By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Streaking forward, Dominic Thiem caught up to the spinning drop shot and nudged an angled reply that knocked a befuddled Novak Djokovic off his feet sending the second seed crashing to the court.
That sequence summed up this Roland Garros quarterfinal.
A brilliant Thiem displaced Djokovic from the baseline, disarmed him with pace and angle and dismissed the defending champion from Roland Garros in shocking fashion.
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Fighting off two set points in the first set, Thiem dominated Djokovic battering out a 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-0, conquest to score his first win over the Serbian and storm into his second straight Roland Garros semifinal.
A year ago, Thiem managed just seven games against Djokovic in the 2016 semifinals.
This time, the explosive Austrian basically beat the desire out of the 12-time Grand Slam champion, whose title defense came to a futile and listless end.
Djokovic’s streak of six straight semifinals or better in Paris was snapped as he suffered his first French Open quarterfinal loss since 2010 when another Austrian, 27th-ranked Jurgen Melzer, rallied from two sets down to stun the Serbian.
Winless in five prior meetings against Djokovic, including absorbing a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing in the Rome semifinals last month, Thiem took Djokovic apart hitting through the slender Serbian in handing Djokovic his first straight-sets loss in a Grand Slam since he fell to Andy Murray in straight sets in the 2013 Wimbledon final.
“It was a very good match for myself,” Thiem told Tennis Channel’s Jon Wertheim afterward. “A very tough first set, very close tie break and I think this was the key. And then I felt a little more comfortable.
"I think set two and three was very, very good. I mean of course it was lucky for me or very good that I broke him in set two or three in his first service game.”
Striking massive groundstrokes with jolting velocity, Thiem pounded 20 more winners—38 to 18—broke Djokovic’s serve six times and shattered the defending champion’s spirit.
A disconsolate Djokovic essentially waved the white flag capitulating the final set.
Rushing through his service games, serving while the crowd was still applauding and looking like a man eager to find an exit, Djokovic dropped 16 of the last 19 points, managing to win just eight total points in the shutout third set.
A vacant Djokovic, who had shown so much defiant spirit advancing to semifinals or better in 24 of his last 28 majors, came up emotionally empty, raising eyebrows in insisting the first set decided the match.
A year after Djokovic defeated Andy Murray to complete the career Grand Slam, he admitted he was a man without answers against Thiem.
“It’s hard in the third set, it’s a pretty bad set,” Djokovic told the media afterward. “All in all it was decided I think in the first set. I tried. I lost that crucial break in the beginning of the second.
"He started serving better, backing it up with the first shot. He deserved to win. He was definitely the better player on the court today.”
Thiem drew first blood with the first break only to see Djokovic break back.
Aggressive court positioning and a willingness to drill heavy strikes down the line helped Thiem turn around the match.
Staring down double set point at 4-5, Thiem blocked a forehand volley to save the first set point and unleashed a twisting kicker out wide to save the second, eventually holding. Thiem held at 30 to force the tie break after 64 minutes of engaging exchanges.
Trying to thread the needle with a backhand down the line, Djokovic missed the mark giving the Austrian the mini-break and a 5-4 lead. Djokovic netted a forehand to face double set point. On his second set point, Thiem drew a netted backhand to seize a hard-fought set.
A strong stand to start the second set proved pivotal.
Down love-30, Thiem held to start the set then tightened the screws on his opponent in the second game.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion saved two break points. On the third, Djokovic hit a daring drop shot. A streaking Thiem caught up to it and flicked an angled reply that sent Djokovic sprawling and his Head racquet flying in the air behind him as Thiem broke for 2-0.
Djokovic arose from the knockdown, but never really recovered as Thiem reeled off 12 of the final 15 games.
One of the best returners in tennis history could not cope with the Thiem kick serve: The Austrian won 24 of 28 points played on his first serve over the final two sets.
Thiem stamped successive love holds for 4-1. Clocking a backhand winner down the line, Thiem earned double set point before slashing a wide serve to close the set.
In five prior meetings with Djokovic, Thiem managed to win just one of 12 sets the pair played. After one hour, 54 minutes today was up two sets to love.
An unsettled Djokovic netted a forehand to drop serve in the opening game of the third set.
Empowered Thiem cranked up his baseline drives thrashing a disinterested Djokovic through the final six games registering his first Grand Slam victory over a Top 10 opponent.
A commanding victory vaults Thiem into a blockbuster semifinal against nine-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal.
The fourth-seeded Spaniard surged into his Open Era-record 10th Roland Garros semifinal when 20th-seeded compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta retired with a strained abdominal trailing Nadal, 6-2, 2-0.
The seventh-ranked Thiem is one of a handful of men with two clay-court wins over Nadal, most recently scoring a 6-4, 6-3, sweep in the Rome quarterfinals last month to snap the Spaniard's 17-match winning streak.
This will be their fourth clay-court meeting of the season. Nadal has won four of their six career clashes.
“First of all, it’s amazing for me to defend my semis from last year,” Thiem said. “Rafa is the toughest opponent ever probably in Roland Garros. Even though I beat him in Rome it was a match that everything went for me, everything went in. So it’s gonna be a different match on Friday.”