EPIC: Diego Schwartzman Outlasts Dominic Thiem in Marathon Battle at French Open 2020

12th seed Diego Schwartzman caused a huge upset as he beat World No.3 Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals of French Open 2020. The Argentine played a five-set thriller which lasted more than five hours. The scorecard read – 7-6, 5-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2.

Thiem came into the match with his fitness highly questioned. Especially after playing a physically grueling match against Hugo Gaston in the 4th round. And so Schwartzman wasn’t going to be a pushover.

He obviously came into the French Open as an underdog. Schwartzman hadn’t lost a set prior to the match and given his exploits in the Italian Open 2020 he has been pretty good lately. Italian Open which happened prior to the French Open saw Diego Schwartzman defeating the mighty Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinal and reaching the finals where he to Novak Djokovic.

Dominic Thiem vs Diego Schwartzman: First set

Schwartzman started off the sharpest with some great backhand winners. Understandably, Thiem’s attacking output was reduced. The longer rallies were going against Thiem. The match had early controversy as an out ball was judged legal. Though the electronic line system showing the ball being 22 millimeters away from the line. Thiem was seemingly tired but just hung on in the set.

Thiem did get a break at 4-2. But it went downhill for the Austrian after that. Bad drop shots and consecutive unforced errors from Thiem gave Schwartzman a way back to 4-4. Both players were then troubled by the gusty winds. Service games became harder with both coming close to breaking each other. The set headed into the tiebreaker. Schwartzman stormed to a 5-0 lead. And in 62 minutes Schwartzman locked the tiebreaker 7-1 and the opening set 7-6.

Second Set

It was predicted that from here Schwartzman would dominate the match but there was a considerable drop from the Argentine. Thiem brought in more uniformity in his play and came inside the baseline more frequently than in the 1st set. He got an early break and was comfortable with a lead at 3-1.

Schwartzman started displaying his immaculate defending which tired Thiem out. And the 2nd set was leveled at 3-3. The players later played a monstrous game on Schwartzman’s serve at 4-4. Thiem squandered seven breakpoints in the game which lasted for more than 15 minutes. In the end, Schwartzman won the game to lead 5-4. Finally, Thiem broke Schwartzman to lead at 6-5. And later converted his set point to level the match 6-7, 7-5.

Third Set

Schwartzman at one point led the set 3-1. And it looked like Thiem was struggling. But the Austrian put in extra effort to get the break back. He brought it back to 3-3.

Yet Thiem never looked settled in the set and so unforced errors kept coming from his racket. Thiem again was broken by Schwartzman who had the opportunity to serve out the set at 5-3. But following the topsy-turvy trend of the match, Thiem managed to take the set into a tiebreaker. And here Thiem converted his 3rd set point to win the tiebreaker 8-6 and the set 7-6.

Fourth Set

The momentum was on Thiem’s side. Winners flowed from Thiem’s forehand. He had taken an early break and led the set 2-0. Schwartzman wasn’t letting it go either and fought his way back to lead 4-2. Thiem was trying to get the break back but Schwartzman produced some great 1st serves to keep the Austrian at bay. Schwartzman had lead 40-0 serving at 5-4 but Thiem miraculously made a comeback and broke back to level the set 5-5. Thiem and Schwartzman held their serve. The tiebreaker was as intense as the entire match, but Schwartzman edged Thiem to seal the set 7-6.

Fifth Set

Both the players were visibly tired and the rallies were reduced. Schwartzman broke Thiem to lead the set 4-2. And later continued to win an absolute thriller. He won the last set 6-2.

Schwartzman won one of the toughest matches in his career. He now reached his first Grand Slam semifinal. The Argentine could next play Rafa Nadal in the semifinal. And with his recent victory over Nadal on clay prior to the French Open, Schwartzman can be pretty optimistic about his chances.