Dominic Thiem defeats Nadal in Barcelona Open semi finals
Dominic Thiem, the player touted to be the successor of ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal proved his mettle on clay yet again. Thiem, 25 took out Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Barcelona Open in straight sets. Prior to this match the pair had met 11 times with Rafa leading a 8-3 head to head but all of Thiem’s victory had come on caly against Nadal.
Thiem broke the 11 time champion once in both sets to win the match 6-4,6-4. By beating Nadal on the red dirt Thiem has entered an elusive club a players who have won 4 or more matches against Nadal on clay. He joined Novak Djokovic on that list. It has been a disappointing start of the clay court season for the Spaniard as he was shown the exit door at the Monte-Carlo masters in the semi finals as well. Nadal’s empty handed exits at the clay court tournaments must give a ray of hope to others players ahead of the French Open where Rafa has had an undisputed dominance.
Thiem will now take on Daniil Medvedev who defeated Kei Nishikori in the other semi final. Last month Thiem had won his first Masters 1000 title by defeating Roger Federer in Indian Wells Final.
