Tsitsipas books Nadal in Madrid, Djokovic faces Thiem
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/05/tsitsipas-books-nadal-in-madrid.html
Stefanos Tsitsipas knocked defending champion Alexander Zverev out of
the Madrid Open in the quarter-finals on Friday, winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
German third seed Zverev has yet to win a trophy this season and stands 4-5 on clay this spring.
Tsitsipas, the eighth seeded Greek, will face five-time champion
Rafael Nadal, who blew away Swiss star Stan Wawrinka 6-1 6-2 in just
one hour. The victory will be his 11th semi-final in Madrid.
In the other semi-final, Austrian Dominic Thiem will face World number one Novak Djokovic,
Thiem sensationally edged out veteran Roger Federer in three sets.
Thiem saved two match points and ended the first chapter of Roger
Federer’s return to clay court tennis with a come-from-behind 3-6, 7-6
(13/11), 6-4 win.
The 37-year-old Swiss had returned this week to the surface for the
first time in three years — his last clay court match was a loss to
Thiem in Rome in 2016.
While Federer was heading out, there were no such problems for top
seed Novak Djokovic who made the last-four when Marin Cilic withdrew and
Rafael Nadal, the second seed, who brushed aside Stan Wawrinka 6-1,
6-2.
Thiem, the 2018 Roland Garros runner-up and winner of the Barcelona
title last month, prevailed in two hours 10 minutes against Federer
having saved two match points in a 15-minute second set tie-break.