Sports
‘Defeat will stay with me forever,’ says devastated Thiem
Dominic Thiem said his epic defeat to close friend Rafael Nadal in the US Open quarter – finals will “ stay with me forever ” .Defending champion Nadal downed battling ninth seed Thiem 0 – 6 , 6 – 4 , 7 – 5 , 6 -7 ( 4 / 7 ) , 7 – 6 ( 7 / 5 ) to reach the semi -finals for the seventh time .
In a gripping 4 – hour 49 – minute contest , which concluded at 2 . 04 a . m . on Wednesday , world number one Nadal won through to keep his bid for a fourth title in New York and 18 th Grand Slam crown on track .
“ It ’ s going to be stuck in my mind forever . Forever I ’ m going to remember this match , for sure , ” said Thiem after his first ever hard court match against Nadal .
“ Tennis is cruel sometimes because I think this match didn ’ t really deserve a loser . But there has to be one .
“ It ended up in the fifth set tiebreaker , there it ’ s 50 / 50 . He made one more point than me . ”
Thiem handed Nadal , against whom he lost in the Roland Garros final in June , just his fourth ever ‘ bagel’ set at the Slams .
That was wrapped up in just 24 minutes with Nadal winning only seven points .
Thiem was also 5 – 3 ahead in the third set and 4 -2 in the fourth before he was reeled in by Nadal, the three – time champion in New York .
Nadal said he had told Thiem he was sorry for the result although the Austrian laughed off that consolation from his close friend .
“ I don’ t think he ’ s really sorry , ” said the 25 -year – old .
“ I mean , he ’ s a great guy . I don’ t want to lose against anybody . But now I wish him the title the most, that ’ s for sure .
“ I think we almost all the time have great matches . I hope that we have many more in the future — with a different end . ”
The semi – final will pit Nadal against third seed and 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro for the second successive Grand Slam tournament .
At Wimbledon , Nadal came back from two sets to one down to win in five in a quarter – final which stretched to almost five hours .
( AFP )
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