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Dominic Thiem pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career by knocking out the legendary Rafael Nadal to advance to the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
In a marathon encounter which lasted four hours and 10 minutes, Thiem beat Nadal 7-6,7-6,4-6,7-6 to reach the last four of the Australian Open. The Austrian will next face Alexander Zverev for a place in the final.
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After the match, Thiem explained that he couldn't handle the pressure of serving for the match against someone of Nadal's calibre before turning it around in the tie-breaker.
"I just wanted to stay in the match. It was a special situation for me, serving for the match against Rafa. It's such a mentally tough situation I couldn’t handle it! But I turned it around in the tie-breaker. It's a little bit demons in the head, as Roger has said. I was just rushing too much changing my tactics. You have to deal with these situations almost every single game."
After his shocking exit, Nadal, who was pleased to be in the match till the last moment, insisted that he was mostly happy with his performance against Thiem.
"I don’t give up one moment during the match. I gave myself an opportunity until the last moment, so I’m happy for that, because my level of concentration and tennis was better I think. My tennis was not bad at all – it was difficult to play against him. I’m happy … [I could have had] a little bit more determination in some moments, true.”
This will rank as one of the biggest wins of Thiem’s career, as he displayed supreme fitness and resilience to outlast the 19-time Grand Slam champion.
The last time Nadal triumphed at the Australian Open was in the year 2009, and his bid for a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title was shattered by Thiem in the quarter-final stage.
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