Rafael Nadal crashed out of the tournament after suffering a defeat at the hands of Dominic Thiem
World No.1 Rafael Nadal was eliminated from the Australian Open tournament by Dominic Thiem after four hours and 13 minutes of a grueling quarterfinal match to set up a match against German Alexander Zverev.
The Austrian beat the number 19-time Grand Slam winner 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 in one of the most exhausting matches of the tournament.
Thus ended Nadal’s hopes of a second Australian Open title having won the last and his only one 11 years ago, back in 2009.
The fifth-seeded Austrian is still behind the Spaniard on terms of head-to-head encounters, with the score still 9-5 in favour of Nadal. However, he has reduced the gap by four after emerging victorious in Australia.
The 26-year old Thiem has never won a Grand Slam tournament so far with his best-ever performances so far being a two-time appearance in the final of Roland Garros- once in 2018 and the other in 2019, which he had lost to Nadal.
THIEM's Time To 𝓢𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓮!
After 4 hours and 10 minutes, @ThiemDomi knocks out world No.1 Rafael Nadal, 7-6(3) 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(6) to advance to the #AusOpen semifinals for the first time.#AO2020 pic.twitter.com/lWuZXBzNmt
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 29, 2020
Nadal’s journey so far
Among all the Grand Slams, the Australian Open still continues to elude Nadal as he still finds it difficult to break the deadlock having won every other Slam event at least twice.
Nadal looked like one of the best contenders for the title after some superb show en route to his quarterfinal clash.
He had overcome challenges from Hugo Dellien, Federico Delbonis, and fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the first, second and third round respectively before setting up an epic clash with Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round.
Nadal’s looked solid in his win against local boy Kyrgios and was the clear favourite on paper against Thiem. However, the younger player sprung a surprise knocking Nadal off the first major Grand Slam tournament of the year.
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Nadal’s loss created a ripple in twitter with many fans and users expressing their disappointment in seeing one of the world’s best tennis players exit the ongoing tournament. Here are a few:
What a heartbreaking loss for Nadal today wow. Hats off to Thiem played his ass off. Crazy 4 hour match
— Christian Cabrera (@chris_thabeast) January 29, 2020
This loss was so brutal to watch because Nadal was right there. Just couldn't figure out Thiem in the tiebreakers. Onto the French ¯_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/ZghDuyxA6O
— Danny Small (@dwsmall8) January 29, 2020
Honestly, the only good thing about Nadal‘s loss tonight is that it guarantees one new gen player making it to the final.#AusOpen
— Shiv (@ForwardDefence) January 29, 2020
https://twitter.com/VuckArsenal/status/1222504927324360705?s=20
👏👏 Congrats to Dominic on the win. And to Rafa on a great fight!
— Susan Minamide 🏳️🌈 🖤🤍💜 (@sjminamide) January 29, 2020
WHAT. A. WIN.
Thiem was at times DEVASTATING
It was very very difficult: Napal played so well too!!!
Extremely deserved#AusOpen— gian (@lukelfc88) January 29, 2020
Enthralling game.
Well done Dominic.
Commiserations Rafa.
Such a high standard game.@AustralianOpen 🇦🇺— Lorraine (@lorrainebomber) January 29, 2020
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