TWO players looking to win their first ever Grand Slam title face off in the second semi-final tomorrow. Fifth seed Dominic Thiem has made it through to a final twice before – losing the last two French Opens – while seventh seed Alexander Zverev is in his first Grand Slam semi-final of his career.

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Age: 26 | 22
Height: 185cm | 188cm
Weight: 85kg | 77kg
Ranking: 5 | 7
Titles: 16 | 11
Grand Slam Titles: 0 | 0
Best Aus Open Result: R4 (17′-18′) | R4 (19′)

While one semi-final has a couple of veterans who have 36 Grand Slam titles between them, the other sees a couple of freshmen yet to taste success at the ultimate level for the ATP Tour. Thiem has been to the final match of a Grand Slam before – twice in fact – going down to Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros which let’s face it, everyone does. Prior to this Australian Open, Zverev has been a disappointment at Grand Slams, showing so much promise but only delivering a couple of quarter finals at Roland Garros as his best efforts. Now with the monkey off the back, Zverev can try and plan a takedown of Thiem, with the German arguably more suited to the hard court than the Austrian, though Thiem is no slouch himself. The last time these two played was at the ATP Finals last year, where Thiem got up in straight sets to move through to the final. He also knocked out Zverev in the German’s first quarter finals appearance at Roland Garros on his way to the final in 2018. Zverev’s last win over Thiem was ironically on clay, defeating him in the 2018 Madrid final. Overall, the Austrian has a 6-2 head-to-head advantage over Zverev, but five of those matches have seen the losing party win at least one set. In the past two years, it is 2-1 to Thiem.

The world number five has won 16 titles, of which five have come on hard court. To his credit, his work on hard court has improved over the years, winning three of those in 2019, becoming more than just a clay court specialist. Now 26-years-old, Thiem is hitting the peak of his career, and prepared for a Grand Slam title. Of Zverev’s 11 titles, six have come on hard court, but his only title from 2019 was at Geneva on clay. He did win the ATP Finals back in 2018, a feat that Thiem fell one win short of in 2019 when he went down to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the decider. The German is still only 22-years-old with plenty of time in front of him, but he has been touted as a special player since his debut title win in St. Petersburg as a teenager. Standing at 198cm, Zverev is one of the more powerful servers on Tour, but often he can look like a top three player, and the very next set – let alone match – look like a sub-500 rank player. When he is on, he is really on and would have more weapons than Thiem – one of the renowned rebounders in the competition – could handle. Thiem himself is a really consistent server, but it is his return game that makes him so good. His Australian Open statistics speaks to his ability to remain in points and games, creating the equal most break points, while winning a whopping 153 points off the return first serve. Zverev is quite solid in the area in fifth, but still 46 points behind the Austrian.

Both these players have had to overcome some opponents in ripping form, with Zverev having the smoother run to the semis, with four less hours on court. In that time he became the first player to defeat Andrey Rublev in 2020 – in straight sets no less – then knocked off title contender and former Aus Open winner, Stan Wawrinka. The worst of Zverev came out in the first set of his quarter finals win and onlookers feared the German’s form of the first fortnight of 2020 – where he was smashed by both Tsitsipas and Denis Shapovalov with frankly terrible serving – was coming back to haunt him. But credit to the young man who picked it up and got back on track to refocus and went on to win in four sets fairly comfortably. It will five give him a massive advantage over Thiem, whom while fit, had to endure a four-hour and 10-minute slog against Nadal – arguably one of the the only fitter players on the Tour than Thiem himself. It is also worth remembering that Thiem almost bowed out in the second round to Australian wildcard, Alex Bolt, but since then has seen off 29th seed Taylor Fritz, and 10th seed Gael Monfils to go with the world number one. This match is likely to last the distance, and it looks like Thiem is best positioned to win in five, though if Zverev can get on top early and get his confidence up, do not be surprised if a maiden Grand Slam final looms.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: 8 MEETINGS

Dominic Thiem 6
Alexander Zverev 2

ENERGY LEVELS:

Sets dropped: 4 | 1
Time on Court: 14 hrs, 33 mins | 10 hrs, 34 mins

KEY STATISTICS:

– In the aces department, Zverev is ranked 10th overall with 56, nine more than Thiem who is ranked equal 13th
– Zverev is remarkably ranked first across the tournament for his first serve percentage, with 79 per cent
– In terms of first serve points won percentage, Thiem sits at 80 per cent, one per cent more than Zverev, with both in the top 20
– Thiem is the number one returner off the first serve – winning 153 points and a massive 31 ahead of his nearest rival – wile Zverev sits in fifth with 107
– Both Thiem (sixth, 84) and Zverev (eighth, 81) are ranked inside the top 10 for second serve return points won
– Thiem’s returning ability has created him the equal most break points, winning 24 ahead of Zverev’s 22 (fifth)