Bravo, Dominic Thiem! Austria’s tennis star fought his way into the semifinals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid with an enormous amount of will and a race to catch up. The 27-year-old Lichtenwrther beat the strong and 2.08 meter tall American John Isner 3: 6, 6: 3 and 6: 4. Today (4 p.m., Sky and live ticker on nachrichten.at) it comes to a spicy duel with friend Alexander Zverev (D), who cleared the top seeded clay court king Rafael Nadal (Esp) 6: 4, 6: 4.
Thiem is further than he assumed after a seven-week break. “I’m happy as it goes. It is not a matter of course to get that far here. I’m very surprised by myself, that’s sensational,” beamed the fourth in the world rankings, to whom Isner hadn’t given the spark of a chance in the first sentence. The veteran with the service was too dominant, 79 percent of the first serves, with which the 18 of 19 points landed, landed tough in the field.
Such a quota can lead to resignation, but Thiem struggled back. The key moment was the game to make it 3-2 in the second set, the US Open champion fended off no less than four break balls, only to take Isner’s serve to zero.
“It took me until the middle of the second set to adjust to his game. Isner is one of the best servers of all time. He not only served well, but also delivered an incredible return,” analyzed Thiem. But with the break to 4: 2, the Werkl should come into full swing, Thiem was getting stronger and played Isner really tired. You can build on that.
Memories come back
Madrid is good ground for the “Dominator”, who is here for the fourth time in the last four. Austria’s athlete of the year reached the final in the Spanish capital twice, losing to Nadal in 2017 and Zverev in 2018.
The Zverev that Thiem will meet on the tennis court for the first time since the memorable US Open final on September 13, 2020. At that time the “Dominator” had risen from the ashes like Phnix and had triumphed in the all-important fifth round after a 2: 0 set backlog and a 3: 5 mortgage. Thiem prevailed after 4:02 hours with 2: 6, 4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 3 and 7: 6 (6).
Zverev is still waiting for the first Grand Slam title of his career, this decisive defeat brought him sleepless nights. When asked how often he still thinks of this match, the 24-year-old German replied weeks later with the following words: “What do you think? So every day 20 to 25 times. At night too. And in my dreams too.”
“I’m curious”
The statistics speak against Zverev, eight of the previous ten duels went to Thiem – including the youngest four. In this key it can go on from a red-white-red point of view. However, certain doubts remain: “I’m curious to see whether I’m ready to play this capacity. This is another league of its own,” said the 17-time tournament winner.
Austria’s number one women, Barbara Haas, ended in the round of 16 at the ITF tournament in Prague. The 25-year-old from Weyer lost to Anna Bondar (Hun) 4: 6, 6: 3, 4: 6. (Alex)
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