French Open, day 9: Thiem fails due to Schwartzman

US Open champion Dominic Thiem surprisingly failed in a high-class marathon match in the quarter-finals of the French Open. Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, on the other hand, remain fully on course to defend their title. Paris record winner Rafael Nadal is again in the semi-finals after a night shift against shooting star Sinner

The third seeded Austrian, who was defeated by record winner Rafael Nadal in the last two years, lost in the round of eight after 5:08 hours against the Argentine Diego Schwartzman (No. 12) 6: 7 (1: 7), 7: 5, 7: 6 (8: 6), 6: 7 (5: 7), 2: 6.

Thiem missed his fifth semi-finals in a row in Paris. Right from the start he had a lot of trouble with Schwartzman, who had fought Nadal on clay at the Masters in Rome. The 28-year-old from Buenos Aires secured the first set in the tiebreak – then a clay court battle developed on the Philippe Chatrier court.

Only after 3:24 hours Thiem managed to lead the 2: 1 set after a nerve-wracking third round. When the score was 4: 5 in the fourth set, Thiem initially fended off three set balls, but was then forced into the fifth set in the tie-break.

In addition to the twelve-time French Open winner Nadal (Spain) and world number one Novak Djokovic (Serbia), Thiem was one of the absolute top favorites in Paris. Nadal’s duel with the Italian Jannik Sinner, who defeated Germany’s top player Alexander Zverev (Hamburg) in the round of 16, was scheduled for Tuesday evening. In the match Schwartzman’s semi-final opponent is determined.

Record champion Rafael Nadal is in the semi-finals of the French Open after a heavy but successful night shift. In his 100th match in Roland Garros, the 34-year-old had to pass a real test by the Italian shooting star Jannik Sinner, Nadal prevailed 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 4, 6: 1 and did not lose a set .

Nadal, twelve-time tournament winner, had a break in the first two sets against the courageous 19-year-old Sinner, who had eliminated Alexander Zverev a round earlier. But he came back and in the third run Sinner’s resistance was broken. At 1:26 a.m., Nadal transformed his first match point and now has a fabulous record of 98 wins and only two defeats at the French Open.

French Open: Krawietz / Mies in the semi-finals

The double from Coburg and Cologne won in Paris 6: 4, 6: 4 against the number 13 seeded Britons Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski and reached the semifinals.

Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies immediately focused on the semi-finals. “All the punches are there, we have had a lot of good matches, now we have to regenerate well and clear our head,” said Krawietz.

The defending champions are back on track in Paris, the place of their greatest triumph. “It feels good what we’re doing,” added Mies. The duo from Coburg and Cologne did not want to hear anything about too much pressure. Instead, it is necessary to maintain the looseness in the final sprint, “the fun factor” as Mies called it.

The Davis Cup players will now fight for the final ticket against the US Open finalists Wesley Koolhof / Nikola Mektic (Netherlands / Croatia / No. 9) or the Americans Nicholas Monroe / Tommy Paul. And they are bursting with self-confidence. “It’s nice to see that what we set out to do and follow through with the match plan works,” said Mies.

Krawietz and Mies started their quarter-finals with great concentration. The German doubles got an early break to 2: 1 and brought this lead to the finish line after 45 minutes. They also served safely in the second set and quickly took the serve from their opponents with strong returns and volleys.

Krawietz / Mies had already shown strong nerves in the round of 16 against the French Benjamin Bonzi and Antoine Hoang when they blocked three match points. Now they didn’t let anything go against the British and stay in the tournament.

In 2019, the German doubles sensationally won the title at the French Open and thus celebrated the greatest success of their career to date.

Nadia Podoroska makes French Open history

The Argentine Nadia Podoroska made history at the French Open. The 23-year-old made it into the semi-finals as the first qualifier at the tournament in Roland Garros since the beginning of the Open Era in 1968. Podoroska defeated the clearly favored Ukrainian Elina Switolina (No. 3) on Tuesday 6: 2, 6: 4.

In the semi-finals, Podoroska, number 131 in the world, will meet the 19-year-old Polish Iga Swiatek, who beat Martina Trevisan from Italy 6: 3, 6: 1. Swiatek stays in the tournament without losing a set, she also clearly defeated the top seeded Romanian Simona Halep.

French Open: All results for the day