Nadal wins epic battle against Thiem

World No 1 Rafael Nadal overcame a slow start to defeat Dominic Thiem in a thrilling five-set clash to book his place in the US Open semi-finals.

Thiem shocked the crowd by coming out of the blocks flying, breaking Nadal three times to win the opening set 6-0 in just 26 minutes.

Nadal finally got on to the board by winning the opening game of the second set. That seemed to settle his nerves as he grew in confidence as the match went on. In the eighth game of the second, Nadal broke to take a 5-3 lead, but he handed that break straight back while serving for the set.

That did not seem to bother the Spaniard too much, as he broke Thiem for the second time in a row to take the second set 6-4.

The third went according to serve until Thiem broke Nadal at the first time of asking in the seventh to take a 4-3 lead. He could not make the break count as Nadal broke back when Thiem was serving to level the set once again.

Nadal again broke Thiem’s serve twice in a row to seal the third 7-5.

World No 9-ranked Thiem got an early advantage yet again in the fourth, but as in the third set, he failed to make it count as Nadal broke back in the eighth. Thiem had two further break points, but he could not take either of them as the fourth went to a tie-break.

The Austrian flew out to a 3-0 lead and finally made the most of his advantage as he took the breaker 7-5 to take the match to a deciding set.

Nadal did not give up a single break point in the fifth while Thiem had to save five. At 0-40 down in the 11th game, it looked all but over, but he rallied back to win the game as the fifth set went to another tie-break.

The tie-break was a see-saw affair with neither man driving home his advantage, but it was Nadal who came out on top when Thiem’s forehand went long to seal his spot in the semi-finals with a 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5) victory.

In the other men’s match, Juan Martin del Potro defeated John Isner 4-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Earlier in the day, Serena Williams secured her spot in the semi-finals after claiming a straight-sets victory over Karolina Pliskova.

Williams trailed 3-4 in the opening set, but two consecutive breaks of serve allowed her to clinch the first set 6-4. In the second, she took a 4-0 lead after breaking her opponent twice to make it four breaks of serve in a row. Pliskova did manage to get one break back, but it was not enough as Williams continued her search for a seventh US Open title.