After saving three match points against a non-clay courter such as Sam Querrey, Dominic Thiem overpowered the best clay courter of all time Rafael Nadal with a performance for the ages. Djokovic seems to be comforted by Nadal’s elimination. If Zverev won the tournament, he would be the youngest winner since Djokovic.
ROME – On Friday the Italian Open lost its No. 1 favorite Rafael Nadal and all players left in the draw now feel that they have a much better chance to claim the title at the Foro Italico. Only two players managed to raise the trophy in eleven of the last twelve years: Rafael Nadal won the title seven times and Novak Djokovic four. Last year’s champion Andy Murray was easily dismissed in his opening match by Fabio Fognini.
Tennis is sometimes a strange sport. Dominic Thiem struggled in the round of 16 and saved three match points against Sam Querrey, who is certainly not a clay court specialist. Less than 24 hours later, the Austrian dominated a player who this year had won 17 straight clay court matches and three consecutive tournaments (Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid) dropping only two sets.
Despite defeating Thiem in two consecutive finals in the last couple of weeks, Nadal seemed to perfectly aware of the challenge presented by his younger rival: “At the moment Dominic is playing better than anyone else on clay,” Nadal said after the Madrid final.
When players save one or more match points in the early rounds of a tournament, it often happens that they spread their wings and begin to fly. And sometimes they end up winning the title. This year Murray won in Dubai after saving seven match points against Kohkschreiber, Djokovic won in Doha after being down a couple of match points against Verdasco and Federer won in Miami after surviving a match point against Berdych. It is also worth mentioning that Borna Coric saved five match points against Kohlschreiber in the Marrakech final. The unlucky Kohlschreiber lost two big matches after squandering an astonishing twelve match points in the span of a couple of weeks.
THIEM AND HIS HISTORY OF MATCH POINTS SAVED
Dominic Thiem is not new to winning ATP tournaments after saving match points along the way. Last year en route to his Buenos Aires title, he saved match points against Elias in the second round and Nadal in the semifinals. The Austrian is now the favorite to win the title at the Foro Italico, for the simple fact that so far this year he has been playing much better tennis than Novak Djokovic.
Thiem lost four of the five matches that he had previously played against Nadal, but his victory never seemed in danger today. He broke the Spaniard in the first game of the match and never took his foot off the accelerator. John Isner had lost six of his previous seven matches against Marin Cilic, but today the American emerged as the winner on the surface that should in theory penalize him the most. John is the first U.S. player to reach the semifinals in Rome since Andy Roddick in 2008: A very surprising result achieved with 93 aces in 4 matches and 52 service games won out of 55. Isner is currently No. 24 and the second ranked American after No. 14-ranked Jack Sock. Steve Johnson is No. 25, Sam Querrey No. 28, Ryan Harrison No. 42 and Donald Young No. 45.
ISNER’S MISFORTUNE AGAINST THE ZVEREV FAMILY AND ONE-TWO PUNCHES
Today Isner will face the challenge of young Zverev in a clash between two of the tallest players on tour: 6’ 10” against 6’ 6”. Isner prevailed over Marin Cilic of Croatia in a quite uninteresting match that was decided by tie-breakers in both the first and third sets. I am afraid that the semifinal between Isner and Zverev will be another one-two punches kind of match: Monster serving, super short rallies and ball hammering. The second semifinal will feature Thiem against the winner of Djokovic-Del Potro in a much more intriguing battle. The quarterfinal between the Serbian and the Argentine was suspended due to torrential rain last night and will resume tomorrow in the early afternoon with Djokovic leading 6-1, 1-2.
Isner has really bad memories with the Zverev family. In the second round of the Australian Open, Isner was up two sets to none and had two match points in the third set against Alexander’s older brother Micha. A few weeks later in Miami, Isner had 3 match points against Alexander but couldn’t convert them.
At 20 years of age, Zverev – who will compete in his first Masters 1000 semifinal – could become the youngest winner of the Italian Open since Djokovic in 2008.
Djokovic and Del Potro were playing a very high quality match when play was suspended. It was not only Novak’s best match of the tournament, but perhaps of the year. Is the Serbian suddenly comforted by Nadal’s elimination? Mind games are so important in tennis that it wouldn’t be a surprise if this was the case.
The women’s tournament has now become a bit boring. In my opinion, Halep is still the favorite to win the tournament like she should be in every clay court event when her head is in the right place.
If she loses to Bertens, from a technical point of view it will be an even bigger surprise than Nadal losing to Thiem. The other semifinal between Muguruza and Svitolina is on paper more competitive: the Spaniard is not yet playing at the same level as last year when she won at Roland Garros.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
