TWO former Australian Open winners are out of the tournament as the next generation of potential Grand Slam winners have moved through to guarantee at least one fresh face in the final.

The world number one and one-time Australian Open winner, Rafael Nadal is out of the tournament after fifth seed Austrian, Dominic Thiem knocked him out in a four-set quarter finals win. Having lost to the Spaniard in the Roland Garros final the past two years, and also at the US Open in 2018, Thiem finally sought revenge on the 19-time Grand Slam winner with an epic 7-6 7-6 4-6 7-6 victory in four hours and 10 minutes. It is hard to believe that Thiem almost bowed out in the second round to Alex Bolt after trailing two sets to one, but is now through to the semi finals following some inspired tennis against the world’s top player. It was only the fifth time Thiem had triumphed over Nadal, and the first time on hard court, serving 14 aces and hitting 65 winners on the night, while capitalising on 76 per cent of his points at the net. His first serve percentage of 78 was superb, while Nadal was not too bad himself with 69 per cent. He only broke the three times to Nadal’s four, but won 34 per cent of his receiving points, and hit 16 more winners in the match. Outside the French Open where he has reached the semi-finals in the last four events, he was yet to reach the final four in one of the other Slams, which was disappointing in 2019, losing first round at both Wimbledon and the US Open, and second round here at Melbourne Park. Now he moves on as a genuine title contender to Djokovic’s throne.

In a career-first, 22-year-old German Alexander Zverev booked a spot in the Australian Open semi-finals, his first Grand Slam, final four appearance. While he has been known to be hot and cold throughout matches, he overcame a disastrous first set against former Australian Open winner, Stan Wawrinka in four sets. The German fell 6-1 in the first set, winning just eight points on-serve, and despite Wawrinka’s usually dominant serve being nothing short of erratic (six of 19 first serves went in), he could not get his usual game going with 10 unforced errors and only three winners. Wawrinka broke twice and only dropped three points on serve despite the majority of the points being second serves. In the remaining three sets however, Zverev took control with a 79 per cent first serve points winning percentage, and a 75 per cent second serve point winning percentage – though he also served at an elite 87.8 per cent over the last three sets, serving 12 aces and hitting 33 winners to 18. He only won 10 more points for the match than his Swiss opponent, but broke five times to one in the last three sets to take out the match, 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-2.

[5] D. Thiem (AUT) defeated [1] R. Nadal (ESP) 7-6 7-6 4-6 7-6
[7] A. Zverev (GER) defeated [15] S. Wawrinka (SUI) 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-2