Dominic Thiem to face Novak Djokovic in Austalian Open final after defeating Alexander Zverev
Thiem to meet seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final. Join us for live game-by-game coverage thanks to our live blog from 8am (GMT)
by Raz Mirza
Dominic Thiem won a punishing Australian Open semi-final to set up a showdown against seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday's championship match.
Thiem became the first Austrian to reach the final in Melbourne with a tough 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) victory against his good friend Alexander Zverev.
"It was an unreal match. He's so hard to break. Australian Open finals is absolutely unreal and what a start to the season so far," said two-time French Open runner-up Thiem.
"It's not easy, I was playing four hours 10 [minutes] against Rafa [Nadal], who is the most intense guy on tour. When all the adrenaline came, it was fine. I had some troubles in the first set, I think we were both nervous."
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The German won the coin toss and elected to receive first with the decision paying off immediately as the seventh seed broke to 30.
Thiem, who produced one of his best-ever performances to knock out world No 1 Nadal in the quarter-finals plus his extra experience and good record against Zverev, saw him go into the match as the favourite. He quickly found his rhythm on the backhand wing to respond in the next game.
There was a brief pause in play during the fourth game as rain began to fall on Rod Laver Arena so umpire John Blom called for the roof to be closed.
When play restarted, conditions appeared to suit Zverev, 22, better as he extracted a couple of errors out of the Austrian to break for a 4-3 lead. After consolidating his advantage with a 69-second service game, he wrapped up the set following a further break of Thiem's serve.
The Austrian was unable to find the same freedom that he had against Nadal and Zverev's greater calmness in his first Grand Slam semi-final handed him the advantage.
But having won 12 points on serve, including the opening game of the second set, Zverev crumbled, dropping three game in a row. The 6ft 6in German, who claimed the biggest title of his career by winning the ATP Finals in 2018, quickly overcame the premature wobble to hold and then restore parity at 3-3.
A topsy-turvy contest saw a seventh break of serve in 16 games when Thiem took advantage of a lucky net cord at 15-30 before moving 4-3 up. The fifth seed then saved two break points before serving it out following a rip-roaring 10th game.
Play was then disrupted for a second time when a row of lights at the back of the court stopped working. Following a couple of renditions of 'Sweet Caroline' play eventually restarted and a refreshed Thiem converted his third break point with a searing backhand pass to lead 2-1. Thiem held a break point for 4-2, but after Zverev escaped to hold, he struck to level at 3-3.
Thiem toughed it out to save two set points on serve at 4-5 in the longest game of the match and despite feeling nauseous, he took us into a tie-break. And it was the Indian Wells champion who reaped the rewards of brave shot choices by playing a brilliant tie-break, taking the set 7-6 (7-3).
Despite a total of nine breaks in the match, the serve dominated a crucial fourth set which went the distance. And it was Thiem, who stayed calm and composed in the tie-break, taking his second match point to set up a final date with Novak Djokovic on Sunday.
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