Friday, 20 April 2018

Nadal to face Thiem in quarter final

The round of sixteen in Monte Carlo produced four three setters of the seven matches played.  Milos Raonic (14) handed Marin Cilic (2) a walkover, and the Croatian now has a quarter final berth as a result.


Dominic Thiem (5) and Novak Djokovic (9) battled manfully in their opening set, and it was Thiem who made the running, breaking early for a 3-0 lead.  He held this advantage, and had set point with Djokovic serving at 3-5 Adv Thiem.  Novak save this, and two more when Dominic served for the set at 5-4 40-15.

Djokovic broke and then, as he did against Coric in the first set of their match, moved inside the baseline to win the eventual tie break 7-2.  Thiem donated his third double fault on the first set point for Djokovic.


Thiem put a stop to any momentum gained from the Djokovic comeback which garnered him the opening set.  The Austrian saved a break point in his first game of set two, then broke the Djokovic serve in both the fifth and seventh games.  The set was over 6-2.

Backhand errors from Djokovic in the deciding set on important points were critical, especially when Thiem was hitting winners with the same shot at the right stages.

The fifth seed broke in the seventh game, and Djokovic at 3-5 failed to hold serve when attempting to remain in contention.


A decisive victory for Thiem 6-7(2) 6-2 6-3, and his second in a row against the Serb champion, following the 2017 Roland Garros quarter final success.


Other round of sixteen match results:

Rafa Nadal (1) defeated Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-2

He will play Dominic Thiem in the quarter finals

Grigor Dimitrov (4) defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6 6-3 6-4

He will play David Goffin in the quarter finals 

David Goffin (6) defeated Roberto Bautista Agut (11) 6-4 7-5

Richard Gasquet defeated Mischa Zverev 6-2 7-5

He will play Sacha Zverev in the quarter finals 

Sascha Zverev (3) defeated Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4 4-6 6-4

Kei Nishikori defeated qualifier Andreas Seppi 6-0 2-6 6-3

He will play Marin Cilic in the quarter finals 

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