It is generally understood that there exists ways to beat Rafael Nadal on a tennis court. For starters, ‘bagel’-ing him in the opening set helps. It is great if you hit every shot as hard as you possibly could and it meets the line; even better if they are one-handed backhands with depth and pace.
Dominic Thiem did all this and yet, after four hours and 48 minutes of breathtaking tennis, found himself on the losing side.
It was 2:04 a.m. in New York when Nadal dropped his racquet, climbed over the net and hugged his opponent. It would have been the perfect ‘passing the baton’ moment, except that he won.
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Better player on paper
On paper, Thiem seemed to be the better player. He hit 74 winners and 18 aces. He took the first set in 24 minutes and converted six break points to Nadal’s five.
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He won 171 points, compared to Nadal’s 165. But on the scoreboard, it was Nadal who ultimately prevailed in the quarterfinal clash 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(5).
“What is important about this match is the level of tennis,” Nadal said in his post-match press conference.
Indeed, the best of tennis matches are the ones that have produced both pleasure and pain in equal measure. On court, Nadal and Thiem looked like warriors with contrasting battle techniques. Nadal matched Thiem’s backhand slices by opening up the court and firing forehands that crashed down like boulders on an empty road.
Thiem countered Nadal’s terrifying forehands with his own punishing baseline exchanges.
The sight of two athletes pushing each other beyond what is normal physical capacity was perplexing, astonishing and utterly compelling. They inspired loud gasps from the audience as they stretched, scraped, slipped and pulled themselves out of the air for one important point. “I’m going to remember this match forever, for sure,” a dejected Thiem said in his post-match interview.
The ghosts of Grandstand past — when he had match points against Juan Martin del Potro at the U.S Open last year and lost — will continue to haunt him.
But he can take solace knowing that the pure quality of his game has peaked this year and that the tennis cognoscenti is no longer ‘waiting for him to arrive.’
Nadal will meet del Potro next, in a redux of their semifinal clash last year. del Potro defeated John Isner 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-2 earlier in the day.
Serena avenges 2016 loss
If Monday was ‘prime-time upset time’ when Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova wilted under the sweltering heat, fans had more reason to cheer on Tuesday after Serena Williams defeated Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Serena served out the match with three aces and an overhead smash to punctuate a win that avenged her most recent loss at the Open — to Pliskova in the 2016 semifinals.
This is Serena’s win against a top-10 opponent for the first time since returning from maternity leave .
She will meet No. 19 seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia, who beat defending champion Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-3 earlier Tuesday.
Osaka in semifinals
On Wednesday, Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese woman to advance to a Grand Slam in 22 years when she beat Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-1. Kimiko Date was the last to do so at Wimbledon 1996.
The 20-year-old Osaka is also the youngest semifinalist at the U.S. Open since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.