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Australian Open 2020: Dominic Thiem ousts Rafael Nadal, reaches semis

Australian Open 2020: Dominic Thiem ousts Rafael Nadal, reaches semis

By Ayush Gupta
Jan 30, 2020
12:20 am
What's the story

In one of the biggest upsets of the 2020 Australian Open, reigning world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain was defeated by Austria's Dominic Thiem in the quarters on Wednesday. Nadal was beaten in four sets, as the opening two turned out to be intense. With this win, Thiem reached his maiden Australian Open semis. Here is the match report.

Match report

How did the match pan out?

The match started on an interesting note. Thiem, who is known to challenge Nadal, went neck-on neck in the opening set, winning the tie-breaker 7-3, followed by a similar tie-breaker win, 7-4, in the second set. The third set saw Nadal pull up the ante and win 6-4. However, Thiem bounced back in the following to win 7-6 (8-6).

Twitter Post

Thiem books his place in maiden AO semis

Thiem's stats

Thiem clinches 15th AO win, reaches maiden semis

The win handed Thiem his biggest win of the Slam, in what is his seventh appearance at the Slam. He has a win percentage of more than 60, to date. While he has reached his maiden AO semis, it would also be his third semis appearance across all the Slams. This was also his 59th win at Slams, with a win percentage of 70-plus.

Data

Nadal suffers 14th AO loss

Thiem's gain came at Nadal's expense as the latter suffered his 14th loss at the AO, where he has a win percentage of more than 82. Overall, it was his 39th loss at the Slams, while he has an aggregate Slam win percentage of 88.

Tough situation

Thiem admits it was a tough situation

Following the win, Thiem said that he was looking to stay in the match throughout. Also, serving for the match was special for him, despite finding it difficult to handle the tough situations. "It's a little bit 'demons in the head'. I was just rushing too much...changing my tactics. You have to deal with these situations almost every single game," he said.

What's next?

Thiem to face Alexander Zverev in semis

Thiem would be up for a tough clash against Germany's Alexander Zverev, who is ranked seventh in the world. While Zverev would be playing his maiden Slam semis, he would be under pressure. As a result, Thiem, ranked fifth, would have a slight psychological advantage over the German.

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Thiem already has his eyes set on Zverev