Dominic Thiem shocked top seed Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev ousted former champion Stan Wawrinka as tennis’s young pretenders stole a march on the old guard to reach the Australian Open semi-finals on Wednesday.
Austria’s Thiem, 26, beat Nadal 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (8/6) – his first win in six attempts at Grand Slams, including two French Open finals – to end the 33-year-old’s bid to equal Roger Federer’s record 20 Major titles.
Thiem had Nadal’s measure in the first two sets and he recovered from dropping the third to win the fourth-set tie-breaker, getting off the floor after falling to win one point and enjoying some luck from the net cord to set up the third and decisive match point.
(With AFP inputs)
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