
Dominic Thiem battled past Novak Djokovic in a thrilling encounter 6-7(2) 6-2 6-3, to make the Quarter-Finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
The Austrian started the match positively as he won the first three games using his clay court experience to his advantage. Djokovic, who was playing his third match in four days struggled to settle into the contest as his defensive skills were put to the ultimate test.
However just as Thiem was seemingly cruising towards the first set, The world number six made some uncharacteristic errors as he wasted three set points. That was followed by an atrocious volley which resulted in a Djokovic break back and a roar from the two time champion.
The Serbian was now confident and took advantage of some poor forehands from Thiem. In the end Djokovic grabbed a brutal set in the tiebreak 7-2 as the Serbian looked back to his very best.
Despite losing the first set, Thiem remained undeterred and went to work on the Djokovic serve as he looked to force some errors from his opponents racket. The Austrian eventually broke a tiresome Djokovic not once but twice as he forced a deciding set.
The third set saw some enthralling tennis as both men started to play their best tennis at the same time as Thiem was warming up his devastating backhand. Although the ninth seed started to bring his tennis, he started to show his lack of tournament practice as Thiem began to capitalise. Two consecutive breaks at the end of the set were enough as the Austrian booked his place in the last eight in just over two and a half hours.
After the match Thiem expressed his delight at the win over the two time champion, “Every win is important, especially against such a great player as Novak. Yeah, it’s quarterfinals at a 1000 event now, so it’s only getting tougher, probably against Rafa, which is the ultimate challenge on clay. Of course, it was important for my self-confidence, to know I’m physically 100% again. It was a great win. Of course it’s important. But tomorrow is a new day.”
Thiem will now play 10 time champion Rafael Nadal as he eased past Russian Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-2 as he made his 14th consecutive Monte-Carlo Quarter-Final. The Spaniard broke four times as he sealed victory in 1 hour and 19 minutes and won his 65th match at the Principality.
Thiem and Nadal met four times on the clay last season where Nadal won three of those meetings including the one in Roland Garros. The Austrian became the only player to beat Nadal on clay and is aiming to become the fourth man in history to beat the world number one in Monte-Carlo.