Thiem Dethrones King Of Clay

Dominic Thiem, the youngest member of the Top 20, saved a match point before downing defending champion Rafael Nadal in a classic 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4) semi-final victory at the Argentina Open on Saturday.

The top-seeded Nadal opened the match by breaking Thiem’s serve, but the Austrian fought back strongly to take the first set. Nadal had looked vulnerable at times in straight-set wins over Juan Monaco and Paolo Lorenzi, and the youngster’s power and athleticism had the former World No. 1 searching for solutions.

Nadal appeared lacking in confidence, but the lefty’s resistance never waned. He snuck away with the second set by breaking Thiem in the 10^th game, when the World No. 19’s serving arm tightened just enough for Nadal to impose his will.

A back-and-forth deciding set saw Thiem save match point at 4-5, then hold off Nadal in a deciding tie-break to prevent the Spaniard from becoming the sixth player in the Open Era to reach 100 tour-level finals. The pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry now stands at 1-1, Nadal having won their lone previous meeting at Roland Garros 2014.

The 22-year-old Austrian, seeded fifth, improves to 2-10 after dropping eight matches in a row against Top 10 opponents. He is into his fifth career ATP World Tour final, all on clay.