Rafael Nadal suffered a crushing 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 6-7 defeat at the hands of fifth seed Dominic Thiem on Wednesday in the quarter-final of Australian Open 2020. The world No.1 failed to match up to Thiem's movement and consistency at the Rod Laver Arena in their evening clash.
Thiem brought some exceptional tennis along with him and was one step ahead of the Spaniard on every ocassion as he came out on top of Nadal in each of the tie-breakers played in the first two sets.
The first two sets were quite similar with Nadal going ahead in each with a service break before getting broken back and seeing Thiem take a tiebreaker.
But, the third set suggested that Nadal was not done yet. Nadal prolonged the match by breaking Thiem at Melbourne Park to a fourth set by taking the third by a 6-4 score.
But, the fightback didn't last long as Thiem was quick to break back Nadal in the fourth set of the game but serving for the set and match, Thiem's errors allowed Nadal to come back and break him to go 5-5.
However, with the match going to another tie-breaker, Thiem outlasted the Spaniard once again to take the last set 7-6 and win the game.
Thiem will now play Alexander Zverev in the semifinals on Friday.
