- The Austrian wins 6-7, 6-7, 6-4 and 6-7 against the Spanish
- Nadal would lose number one if Djokovic wins the title
Dominic Thiem has taken the duel of the quarterfinals of the Australian Open against Rafa Nadal, a battle of more than four hours in which the Austrian has taken the game for four disputed sets (6-7, 6-7, 6 -4, 6-7) and thanks to which he will be cited in the semifinals of the tournament against Alexander Zverev.
In addition, this elimination causes Nadal's world number one to be in danger. For his part, Thiem, who had never come so far in Melbourne Park, will look for the final against German Alexander Zverev, who left Stan Wawrinka (1-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2) in the lurch ).
Thiem and Nadal had met thirteen times, and if the Austrian had won four of those duels, Nadal had imposed himself in the five in which they had measured themselves in the framework of a Grand Slam tournament, including the last two Roland finals Garros
In the first two sets, Nadal had managed to break Thiem's service, but the Austrian managed to recover it and win the tie-breaker. In fact, Thiem won the three sets that would give him the victory in the tie-breaker.
Nadal lost his usual peace of mind in a moment of the game. After a long point, he exceeded the set time to take out and received a warning, when the score was 3-2 and 30-30 in the second set. “It's amazing that after such a point, I set the timer so fast. You don't like good tennis,” Nadal then threw the referee.
The explosion of joy of Nadal when winning the third sleeve was significant at the same time of his will and his relief. In the fourth round, it was Thiem who first broke the service of his rival, to place himself with a 5-4 advantage and the serve in his possession to conclude the match. But Nadal recovered the serve, which reached 5-5 and then a third tie-breaker in the game, which again fell on Thiem's side.