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Patna : World No 5 and 5th seed Dominic Thiem, 25, Austria, upset World No 3 and winner of 20 Grand Slam singles title Roger Federer, 37, Switzerland, in a fierce three-set contest in the quarter-finals of Madrid Open, Spain, on May 10, 2019, night, to book a berth in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Thiem, winner of Indian Wells Masters and Barcelona titles in 2019, beat 4th seed Federer 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 coming from behind in 2 hr 10 minutes to enter the semi-finals of Madrid Open. Both the players won 2 break points each in the match. Thiem fired 8 Aces in the match to 6 by Federer.
Federer committed 3 double faults to 1 by Thiem. Both the players won 3 games each in a row. Federer won 74 service points to 70 by Thiem. But, Thiem’s winning percentage on both his first and second serve (81 % & 57%) was slightly better than that of Federer’s (79% & 52 %). Federer had survived a scare before beating Gael Monfils, France, in three-sets in the 3rd round on May 9.
Thiem will face World No 1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals on May 11, 2019. Djokovic advanced to the semi-finals after World No 11 Marin Cilic, Croatia, retired due to food poisoning before their quarter-finals match on May 10, 2019.