Rafael Nadal fought his way into another US Open semifinal, dispatching Dominic Thiem in five trying sets that required the world No. 1 to stage several comebacks over four and three-quarter hours and play one of the finest hard court matches of his storied career.
Nadal did not win a game until the match was 31 minutes old, trailed late in both the third set and failed to close out the win in the fourth, but eventually displayed his veteran prowess and won 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7, 7-6. He tallied an stellar 55 winners and hit countless more spectacular groundstrokes despite just three aces.
“The match was very demanding in all aspects. It was been a very tough start for me. After that first set, then the match became more normal. Tough match against a great opponent.” Nadal said during his press conference.
“It was a question of a little bit of luck at the end. I’m happy, of course, to be in semifinals again means a lot to me. It is good that I have now two days (off) to probably give me the chance to be at my 100% in the semifinals.”
Both his shotmaking and his competitiveness were evident in the final games. Thiem won five consecutive points after falling behind 0-40 at 5-5 — thanks to a poor forehand error and a double fault — with gigantic serves and exceptional hitting. Then in the tiebreak, Thiem twice leveled from mini-break deficits, the latter with a perfect drop shot, but Nadal ran down a forehand on his first match point and Thiem chunked the subsequent overhead to send the Spaniard, somehow, onward.
Nadal looked primed to finish the match in four sets, after he recovered from an early deficit and reached 30-30 at 5-6. But he slammed an open volley into the net — on a ball headed well long — and saw his form dip in the ensuing tiebreak, where he mishit a groundstroke on the opening point and later fell victim to a precise Thiem backhand.
A set earlier, it was Thiem who let a critical set slip away. Serving at 5-4, he chunked a backhand on break point to let the 17-time grand slam champion back into the set. Two games later, Thiem sent an easy, open-court volley into the doubles alley, and lost the set when Nadal slammed an easy forehand winner on the next point.
Poorly played big moments like those consigned the Austrian to defeat against Nadal, just as in the French Open final, despite an eye-popping 74 winners to 57 unforced errors, 18 aces and 13 break opportunities. He played blisteringly well in the opening 24 minutes, when he lost only seven points.
He paired a backhand winner with a forehand winner on long rallies in the opening game, then closed a lengthy exchange with a short backhand for a 3-0 lead. The third break followed quickly, and a backhand winner closed the set on Thiem’s first opportunity.
But when Nadal finally won a game, he raised his level. An exceptional forehand pass set up his first break point of the match, which he converted, and he won a second consecutive Thiem service game to take the set after failing to consolidate his first break.
The rollercoaster did not end there, as Thiem continued to display arguably his greatest form ever. A crosscourt forehand put him up 4-3 in the third set, but that set soon slipped away from the Austrian. He rebounded exceptionally well to open the fourth set, staving off break points in his opening service game before going ahead and later staving off two more break chances.
Nadal had forced the only two break points early in the fifth set at 2-2, but four superb Thiem serves erased them and closed out the game. When he later secured the victory amidst a roar from the remaining late-night crowd, the defending US Open champion had earned a semifinal meeting with Juan Martin Del Potro on Friday.
