Dominic Thiem Stuns Novak Djokovic For a Place in The French Open 2019 Finals

After the halt at 6-2, 3-6, 3-1 on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the two European men, Novak Djokovic, and Dominic Thiem resumed their quest for a place in the finals of the French Open 2019.

The Austrian, Thiem concluded Djokovic’s second ‘Nole Slam’ reverie as he defeated the Serbian,  6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 in the semifinals of the Roland-Garros 2019 and reaches his second consecutive final at the French major. With this win, Dominic Thiem snaps Novak’s 26-match winning streak at Grand Slams in more than four hours of time. 

After the resumption, Dominic Thiem consolidated his yesterday’s break of serve by closing out a 23-shot rally with a lethal forehand down the line and held a 4-1 lead in the third set against the World Number one Serb. Erroneous tennis from the Austrian in his service aided Djokovic to recover back from his yesterday’s break of serve at 4-3.

While facing a break point, Dominic Thiem was fortunate enough as his drop shot attempt bounced on the net-cord and landed in an unusual manner on the Serb’s court and then World Number four makes a crucial hold on 5-5. The set seemed to enter the tiebreaker, but Thiem’s aggressive hitting and low return on the set point gave him a lead of two sets to one.

Djokovic was given time violation and then asked the umpire not to call out the score in advance. “You made yourself a name. You made yourself recognisable now. You get all the credit. Have you ever played tennis? So you know how it is in this situation at 5-6, long point, crowd still clapping?” Djokovic was exasperated with the chair umpire.

Thiem’s brutal backhand gave him a 30-0 advantage at 2-1 in the fourth set. The game was driven into deuce with Djokovic being flawless with his defense. However, Dominic Thiem converted a break point as the callous net-cord placed the lob shot on the baseline while Djokovic was on the net.

Novak Djokovic re-emerged in the fourth set to lead by 4-2. Before that, the duo exhibited show on the net, where Thiem place an angled backhand winner on Djokovic’s court. The Serb missed a slice return and flawing a drop shot brought the set back to 4-4.

The World Number one was determined to chase his second ‘Nole Slam’ glory and a double-fault from the Austrian and a miserable forehand return gave Djokovic a 6-5 lead and later he took the set at 7-5. By the end of the fourth set, Novak Djokovic statistics on the net was 44 percent and Dominic Thiem could win 15 points out of the 17 times he came to the net.

Dominic Thiem complicated the things of Novak Djokovic as he held five points in a row since facing a break point in his opening service game in the fifth set. The Serb’s backhand volley landed on his side after the ball hit the net-cord and gave Thiem a 3-1 up lead in the deciding set. Djokovic was serving on 4-1(40-40) and the rain sent the players off the court. 

The play resumed with the sun shining bright, Djokovic believed the return was wide from Thiem’s end and halted the play to verify the mark, but the umpire disagreed and later saved the break point to preserved his service game at 4-2.

Novak Djokovic bounced back to break the next generation clay courter with his effortless volley and controlled tennis at 4-3. However, a faulty service game from Novak as he placed his strokes on the net, awarded Thiem an opportunity to serve to play Rafael Nadal in the final. An awful backhand slice and a long forehand dissolved the two match points which Dominic Thiem had collected. 

Later, Djokovic brought to set 5-5 and Thiem held his serve to love in the next game, but Dominic Thiem snapped Novak’s winning streak at majors as the Serb laid down a forehand on the net.