In a re-match of the 2016 French Open semi-final, Novak Djokovic will be looking to continue his championship defence against an in-form Dominic Thiem. Join The Roar for live scores of the match from around 11:30pm (AEST).
Update: This match failed to start due to rain. It will commence at 7pm (AEST) on Wednesday evening.
While the pair have met five times in their history, with Djokovic winning all of them, it was the semi-finals last year which the former world no.1 can use to his advantage.
On his way to winning the tournament, he knocked Thiem out in a commanding straight sets victory, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Thiem simply wasn’t in the same league as Djokovic as he got blown off the court.
It was clear Djokovic was a run away favourite heading into that match though. This time around, at the quarter-final stage things are less certain.
Thiem is on a brilliant run of form and is yet to drop a set at the French Open. Limiting court time on clay is so often a formula for winning, and especially with Djokovic’s up and down fitness Thiem will carry the edge there.
The Austrian is also the only player to have beaten Rafael Nadal during the clay court swing, however he went down to Djokovic in the Rome final just a week out from the start of the French Open, so again, Djokovic will have a mental edge in this one.
Thiem’s game and run through the second grand slam of the year has been modeled on playing with plenty of depth and running opponents off the court, simply focusing on a powerful ground stroke game.
The amount of power Thiem possesses has allowed him to comfortably hold serve, and that is something he will have to continue with against Djokovic at all costs.
Djokovic, who has struggled for fitness in 2017 after a shock early exit at the Australian Open was unable to win a tournament during the clay court season, reaching the quarter-final in Monte Carlo, the semi-final in Madrid and the final in Rome.
While his first two rounds in Paris were dominant as he went past Marcel Granollers and Joao Sousa in straight sets, he was almost knocked out by Diego Schwartzman in the third, having to bounce back from two sets to one down.
It seemed to kick him into action though, winning the final two sets of that match 6-1, 6-1 before he went over Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets.
Prediction
Djokovic has all the running against Thiem, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s Thiem’s time to shine and he will put some strong form to good use.
Thiem in five sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of the 2017 French Open quarter-finals from around 11:30pm (AEST) or at the completion of Jelena Ostapenko and Caroline Wozniacki on the Suzanne-Lenglen Court and don’t forget to add a comment below.
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