World No. 1 Rafael Nadal’s quest for a 20th grand slam title to equal Roger Federer is on hold after he lost to Austrian Dominic Thiem in the quarter finals of the Australian Open.
The Spaniard succumbed 7-6 7-6 4-6 7-6 (8-6) to the fifth seed Wednesday to become the first member of the “big three” to slip up in Melbourne after Federer and Novak Djokovic set up a meeting in the final four Tuesday.
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Thiem, appearing in his first Australian Open quarterfinal, edged the brutal encounter with a powerful array of groundstrokes on Rod Laver Arena.
The 26-year-old will meet Alexander Zverev in the semifinal, a youthful match up compared with that of Swiss great Federer and Djokovic, who have a combined 13 Australian Open titles between them.
Thiem was serving for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set, only for Nadal to break back. It went to a tie break where, after squandering two match points, the Austrian finally triumphed.
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