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Twitter erupts as Nadal beats Thiem in 5 in a US Open classic

Utkarsh Bhatla
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Rafa Nadal beats Dominic Thiem in one of the greatest US Open matches ever. 

It was a match that had all the twists and turns that a sporting epic can provide us with. A young Dominic Thiem coming up against his idol in the quarter-finals, on a dreamy and sweaty night in New York, a night that was about to witness one of the greatest US Open matches of all time.

Rafa Nadal was pushed to the brink of elimination, he had to dig into his special reserves, unleash that warrior appetite and hope that Thiem comes out short.

In the end, a overhead going long meant that Rafa Nadal had crawled into the US Open semi finals, after a 4 hour 49 minute long battle with one of the superstars of the next generation.

When Thiem ‘bagelled’ Nadal in the opening set, it seemed as if the Austrian had figured out a method to beat the World no.1.

Nadal held on, like always, staying in the match, rallying hard and despite Thiem serving for 2 sets to 1 lead in the 3rd, Nadal somehow managed to break him twice in order to clinch that all important set.

With momentum on Rafa’s side, it seemed like the Thiem challenge would fade away, but it just kept growing in stature.

Hard ground strokes, terrific net play and that desire to level the match helped Thiem take it to a final set.

The final set was all about holding your nerve, making sure you don’t blink before your opponent, and the duo, having put so much into the match already, refused to blink at all.

The 5th set tie break was inevitable and most certainly the correct way to determine the outcome of this epic.

The tie break produced standing ovation after standing ovation from the crowd, as Tennis of the highest quality was on display at 2 am in New York.

In the end, Rafa Nadal won the battle, just like he has done multiple times in his career, by refusing to blink before his opponent.

Nadal will now face del Potro in the semi finals, in what promises to be another US Open classic.

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