- The Austrian defeats the German 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4)
The Austrian tennis player Dominic Thiem will be the rival this Sunday of the Serbian Novak Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open, the first 'Grand Slam' of the season, after tracing this Friday in his semifinal to the German Alexander Zverev and prevailing by 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4).
The fifth and seventh seekers fought for more than three and a half hours to become the other end of the oceanic 'big' and the tennis player who would have the mission of winning 'Nole' for the first time in the final game in the Rod Laver Arena. The prize went to the executioner of Rafa Nadal in the quarterfinals, who won the ticket for his third final of 'Grand Slam' after the two losses against the Balearic in Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019.
For this, Thiem had to recover from a first set where Zverev, in his first semifinal of a tournament of this nature, played at a very good level against an opponent with too many mistakes. The one of Wiener Neustadt, however, was able to replenish to settle his tennis and although he wasted a break of advantage, he broke again and after saving two balls of break with his service, he matched the sleeve.
The duel was balanced then, although it was Zverev who had the best option in the third quarter. The Hamburg equalized an initial break of his opponent and with 5-4 up had two set balls to the rest, but missed them and the fifth seed continued his idyll with the tiebreaks. The fourth set, without breakage, had that destiny and the number five in the world, as it did before Nadal, managed better to meet Djokovic.