Thiem Gets Revenge On Coric

Dominic Thiem is riding high at the Mutua Madrid Open. Just 24 hours after saving five match points to defeat Grigor Dimitrov in the third round, the eighth seed put in a nearly flawless performance to reach the semi-finals over lucky loser and #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric 6-1, 6-4.

“It means a lot because this is a place with great memories for me. It’s where I had my first win over a Top 10 guy and now my first Masters 1000 semi-final is here,” said Thiem. “I was hoping for these results to come, but these tournaments are really strong, so it’s a great achievement.”

The victory puts Thiem in his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final after going 0-4 in his previous quarter-final appearances. He also evens his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Coric at 1-1, gaining revenge from a loss this year at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The Austrian’s outstanding run on clay this year began in February by taking the title in Rio de Janeiro (d. Carreno Busta), followed by a runner-up showing last week in Barcelona (l. Nadal). Thiem also scored his first victory over a World No. 1 in Barcelona by ousting Andy Murray in the semi-finals.

Next up for Thiem is Pablo Cuevas, who defeated #NextGenATP German Alexander Zverev earlier in the day. Cuevas leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry over Thiem 1-0, but they haven’t played in two years.

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Despite the loss, Coric has plenty of positives to take from this week. He became the first lucky loser to reach the quarter-finals in Madrid’s tournament history, recording the biggest win of his career by defeating Murray in the third round. The Croatian also matched his best result at a Masters 1000 event (2016 Cincinnati). Coric has excelled on clay this year, winning his first ATP World Tour title last month in Marrakech by saving five match points in the final against Philipp Kohlschreiber. 

Thiem was almost perfect in the opening set, hitting 10 winners to just a single unforced error. He dropped only three points on serve, all of which came in the fifth game, and went on a five-game run to grab the early advantage.

Coric put up more resistance in the second set, but the on-court time of six matches in seven days appeared to take their toll on the Croatian. He took a brief medical timeout up 2-1 in the second set to have his right arm worked on. The lengthy game at 3-3 proved to be critical, with Thiem securing the lone break of the set with yet another forehand winner. The Austrian maintained his slight advantage the rest of the way to wrap up the win in 79 minutes.