Rafael Nadal shows again why he is a fantastic champion after he won a tremendous match in the US Open quarters against an in-form Dominic Thiem.

The world no.1 was badly bagelled (6-0) in the first set by Dominic after he was able to score just 7 points. The Spanish sensation managed to regroup to win the second set (6-4) after resetting and finding his groove.

Things got ugly for Rafa again in the 3^rd set as he was broken in the 7^th game. After the Austrian consolidated his break (5-3), he looked set to get a 2-1 set lead. However, the seed no.1 stormed back like a champion to win 5 consecutive games (!!!) and get a 0-6 6-4 7-5 1-0 lead.

In the 4th set, once again Nadal was in trouble with an early break after he dropped his serve in the 3^rd game (1-2). Rafa broke back in the 8^th game, but this time Dominic refused to bow, and he won the 4^th set at the breaker.

At the beginning of the decider, Nadal looked extremely tired, and Dominic Thiem seemed to be the favorite at that point. Still, both players managed to hold serve for the entire duration of the set, and everything went to the breaker. Thiem got a 5-4 lead, but Rafa was fantastic in keeping the position and eventually he won the last 3 points taking advantage of a horrific overhead from Thiem on the match point.

The world no.1 won this match 0-6 6-4 7-5 6-7 (4) 7-6 (5) in almost 5 hours (and he may pay for that in the next round).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcbSbcv9JSQ

.@RafaelNadal enters #USOpen semi-final after epic triumph over @ThiemDomi https://t.co/E9jsmpHsAy pic.twitter.com/sIGEpqsv4m

— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) September 5, 2018

Final match stats.

Little in it. At first glance, Thiem appears the more dominant. More winners, more aces, the greater differential between winners and unforced errors. But Nadal kept coming forwards, shrugging off errors, nailing FHs. Won the most important point. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/VUzGiT4LrE

— Abigail Johnson (@abigailtennis) September 5, 2018

I am very very sorry for Dominic. NADAL

Soon after the match, a very classy Nadal commented

“I am very, very sorry for Dominic. He’s a great friend on tour, and I am really sorry for him. A top person, but I’m sure he’ll have his chance in the future.”

That was magnificent from both.

Nadal vs. Del Potro H2H

Rafa will face Juan Martin Del Potro in the semifinal. The head to head is 11-5 for Nadal, but 5-all on hard courts.

[su_button url=”https://tennistonic.com/head-to-head-compare/?Rafael-Nadal-Vs-Juan-Martin-Del-Potro” background=”#ef862d” size=”6″ icon=”icon: bar-chart”]See Stats[/su_button]