World No 1 Nadal fails in bid to equal Federer’s title record
RAFAEL NADAL praised Dominic Thiem after being muscled out of the Australian Open in the quarter-finals by a superb performance from the Austrian.
World No 1 Nadal had hoped to equal Roger Federer’s record of 20 grand slam singles titles, but that will have to wait after fifth seed Thiem powered his way to a 7-6 (3) 7-6 (4) 4-6 7-6 (6) victory to set up a clash with Alexander Zverev.
Zverev had joked of his rivals: “I’ll have a cold glass of Coke sitting in my hotel room with my AC (air conditioning) hopefully watching them play for six hours.”
It did not quite take that long but, after four hours and 10 minutes, it was Thiem who clinched another dramatic Melbourne encounter, joining Zverev in striking a much-needed blow for the 20-somethings against the old guard.
Nadal said: “It has been a very good match. He has been playing very well. Playing very aggressive, great shots. Even from difficult positions, he was able to produce amazing shots.
“I honestly didn’t play a bad match. My attitude was great. Good, positive, fighting spirit all the time. I didn’t give up in one moment during the whole match. I gave myself an opportunity until the last point.
“Of course I am sad. I lost an opportunity to be in the semifinals of another grand slam. But I lost against a great opponent.”
Thiem looked like he might have blown his chance when he played a horribly nervous game serving for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set but recovered impressively in the tie-break.
Nadal saved two match points, the second with a HawkEye challenge after a Thiem lob had been called in, but on the third the Spaniard netted a forehand.
Thiem said of the 5-4 game: “A special situation for me, serving for the match against Rafa. Such a really mentally tough situation. I couldn’t handle it but I turned it round in the tie-breaker.”
Earlier, Zverev reached his first grand slam semi-final with a 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory over Stan Wawrinka.
Garbine Muguruza kept believing that she could be a grand slam contender again and the Spaniard is only two wins away from a third title after reaching the women’s semifinals.
Muguruza was tipped to dominate the women’s game after winning the French Open title in 2016 aged 22 and Wimbledon the following summer but she is unseeded at this tournament having dropped outside the top 30.
Last season she won only six matches across the four slams, and the omens were not good when she arrived in Melbourne struggling with illness and lost her opening set of the tournament 6-0 to American Shelby Rogers.
From there, Muguruza has been inspired and she won a battle of the big hitters 7-5 6-3 against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Muguruza said: “I think the toughest moment is when you work hard, work like before, or even harder, and you don’t feel like results are coming fast. Athletes sometimes can get a little bit desperate, get too impatient about it.
“It’s very tough to be for so many years in the top of the game, being that consistent. I feel like it’s something super hard to do. Barely few players can hold that for many, many years in a row.
“You just have to be patient and go through the rough moments, just hang in there and it will come back again.”
Muguruza will next face Simona Halep, who beat Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 6-1 6-1 in just 53 minutes.