No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka won a tight three-setter over 23-year-old world No. 9 Dominic Thiem 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(2) in Indian Wells.
With that win, he advances to the semifinals, where he will face Pablo Carreño Busta, who won his quarterfinal match in a deciding-set tiebreak as well.
🛑No stopping Stan!🛑@stanwawrinka holds on AGAIN in another 3 set clincher. Winning 6-4 4-6 7-6(2) over #DominicThiem. #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/ZCgwJ1tN8D
— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) March 17, 2017
Wawrinka did not get off to a good start. In the opening game, he missed a pass attempt long, giving Thiem a break point. The Swiss then lost the point by missing a forehand.
Wawrinka broke right back, though, winning at love on a Thiem double fault.
Fast forward to Thiem serving at 4-5: Wawrinka had double break point, but he only needed one to hit a one-handed backhand pass to take the first set.
There has been an abundance of BH beauty in this match, as promised. 😍
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) March 17, 2017
At 1-1 in the second, Wawrinka saved one break point with an unreturned serve, but Thiem got another shortly thereafter as a result of a pro-Thiem net cord. Wawrinka then double-faulted, putting Thiem up 2-1.
Thiem, serving at 5-4 for the set, netted a forehand and went down 0-15. Wawrinka then missed two consecutive backhands wide, giving Thiem a 30-15 lead. The 2016 US Open champion then missed a forehand wide, setting up two set points for Thiem, who won the second one with a forehand winner to force a rubber set.
Wawrinka played most the third set from ahead, as his power tennis earned him a 3-0 lead.
However, Thiem got on the board by mixing things up with some serve-and-volley tactics and got the set back on serve in the next game, making it 2-3. He then held for 3-3.
At 4-4, Thiem had a 30-40 break point, virtually a match point. The Austrian lost it by missing a forehand long, and he failed to get Wawrinka’s serve back in play on either of the two points that followed. Wawrinka took a 5-4 lead.
Later in the set, Thiem trailed 5-6 and was serving to stay in the tournament. At 30-40, Wawrinka had a match point, but he lost it by missing a forehand into the net. Thiem eventually won the game with a volley to tie the set at 6, meaning the entire match would come down to a tiebreak.
Thiem lost his first service point of the breaker by missing a forehand long. This gave Wawrinka a 2-0 lead. But Wawrinka made the same error on his next service point too, evening it 2-2. Then it all unraveled for Thiem. He lost the five points that followed, and Wawrinka won the tiebreak 7-2.
Although Wawrinka triumphed in his only two previous meetings with Carreño Busta — his upcoming semifinal opponent — both of those matches took place on clay.
