Ultimate Survivor

NEW YORK, September 5

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Defending champion Rafa Nadal survived an epic US Open quarterfinal confrontation to defeat battling ninth seed Dominic Thiem 0-6 6-4 7-5 6-7(4) 7-6(5) and reach the semifinals for the seventh time. In a gripping 4-hour 49-minute contest which concluded at 2.04am on Wednesday, world No. 1 Nadal won through to keep his bid for a fourth title in New York and 18th Grand Slam crown on track.

However, the 32-year-old was fortunate to triumph on another hot and humid night at Flushing Meadows, 24 hours after Roger Federer had been dumped out of the tournament by John Millman. After suffering a first-set ‘bagel’, Nadal had to battle back from breaks in the third and fourth sets before seeing off the first top-20 player he had faced at the US Open since 2013.

“I suffered, that’s the right word,” said Nadal after playing his longest ever match at the tournament. “I said to Dominic I am sorry. He’s a great guy, a close friend who will have many more opportunities to win the big titles.”

Nadal had defeated Thiem in the Roland Garros final in June but this was their first meeting away from a clay court. “He has a great attitude and is a great fighter,” added Nadal.

In a dramatic final set, Nadal saw five break points come and go before Thiem went long with a smash on the first match point.

The semifinal will pit Nadal against third seed Juan Martin del Potro.

‘Wake up’

Thiem broke three times in a 24-minute first set on Tuesday, handing Nadal just his third ‘bagel’ at a Grand Slam. The top seed won just seven points in the opener. Trapped in a nightmare first set, Nadal knew where to look for answers. He didn’t cast his eyes toward the support team in his box, or send his racquets out to be restrung.

“When these things happen, normally I am not the guy that looks at the strings or looks at the box,” said Nadal. “I am the guy to look at myself,” he said. “I told myself ‘wake up’... I needed to move forward, to change that dynamic, and I did. But the first step to change that dynamic is not to find an excuse. The only truth is that you have to do things better to be able to fight for the point and fight for the match.”  

At Wimbledon, Nadal came back from two sets to one down to win in five 

in a quarterfinal which stretched to almost five hours.  “I played a lot of long and tough matches in my career. That’s one more today,” he said. “In some way when you give everything that you have, win or lose, the personal satisfaction when you give everything and you play with the right attitude is the same.”

‘Defeat will stay with me forever’

Thiem said his epic defeat will “stay with me forever”. “It’s going to be stuck in my mind forever. Forever I’m going to remember this match, for sure,” said Thiem.

“Tennis is cruel sometimes because I think this match didn’t really deserve a loser. But there has to be one. It ended up in the fifth set tiebreaker, there it’s 50/50. He made one more point than me.”  

Nadal said he had told Thiem he was sorry for the result although the Austrian laughed off that consolation from his close friend.

“I don’t think he’s really sorry,” said the 25-year-old. “I mean, he’s a great guy. I don’t want to lose against anybody. But now I wish him the title the most, that’s for sure. I think we almost all the time have great matches. I hope that we have many more in the future — with a different end.” — AFP