World number seven Dominic Thiem has beaten Novak Djokovic 7-6, 6-3, 6-0 at Roland Garros.
For some tennis fans this result may come as a complete shock. Djokovic, a 12-time Grand Slam winner and French Open defending champion losing in three sets to a player who is ranked five places above him? Surely that is a major shock? But the meteoric rise of this young superstar has been evident for awhile now and maybe Djokovic's years of dominance is coming to a close.
It's fair to say that the result is not outrageously surprising but what is a shock for all tennis fans is more so the manner in which the Austrian dismantled the Serbian superstar. The first set was a fascinating one. Djokovic led 4-2 and looked to be in control. Thiem fought hard and managed to force an opening set tie break. Thiem held his nerve on the big points and took the set on the tie break - winning by seven points to five. It was a very exciting first set of tennis that took 75 minutes before it was decided.
The crowd as a result, expected a long gruelling match to take place in front of them. However this was not the case. The Austrian outplayed Djokovic throughout the second set and raced into a two sets to love lead. Even at this point you felt Djokovic could put up a fight and claw his way back into the match, but it wasn't to be. Things got a whole lot worse for the defending champion losing the third set 6-0 in just under 23 minutes.
The aggressive tennis from Thiem and countless errors from the racket of Djokovic proved to be the deciding factors in the match.
The Austrian has been in the form of his life of late. He has yet to drop a set in this years tournament. He made two clay court finals in a row earlier this year, narrowly losing to Rafael Nadal in both. However, the last time they met which was only a few weeks ago in Rome, Nadal succumbed to Thiem's brilliance and lost in straight sets, recording his only loss on clay this season.
It sets up a mouth watering Semi-Final between Nadal and Thiem which will kick off on Friday, provided that the rain stays away!
DOMI-nation! @ThiemDomi storms into the #RG17 semi-finals, beating defending champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 6-3 6-0 👠pic.twitter.com/Ipt0VZ4b7V
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 7, 2017
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