The no. 7 Thiem, who recently moved up two spots in the world rankings, advanced to the quarterfinals after a pair of entertaining victories – a straight set against Pablo Cuevas and a come-from-behind 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) edging over Sam Querrey.
Following those matches, Thiem has now won 16 of his 19 matches on the clay this year, which includes his impressive run for a title at the Rio Open back in late February, where he blazed through his opponents via five straight set wins. Overall, he’s 73-28 on a clay surface (.723) and has six titles on such courts.
He has to keep all the momentum, rhythm, and confidence he can get before the match, since he’s just 1-4 opposite Nadal all-time, with the last two – Madrid Masters and Barcelona Open – occurring in the championship rounds.
Nadal, to no one’s surprise, is doing what he does best in the tournament: dominate. He advanced after easing past Nicolas Almagro, who had to retire the match due to an apparent injury (the score was 3-0 prior), and Jack Sock, who also fell in a lopsided affair, 6-3, 6-4.
“The King of Clay,” as you may know (or probably guessed with that nickname), is still a god amongst men when he’s on the clay. He hasn’t lost in such a surface this year (17-0 in 2017, 380-84 all time) and it doesn’t appear that he can be slowed down anytime soon.
We should see Rafa conquer Thiem for the fifth time in six meetings, and eventually add another hardwood to his already loaded ATP championship collection (52 in the clay, 70 in total).
