IN a world, and indeed tournament where everything is far from predictable, some sort of normality returned to the US Open men’s draw today with quarter finals wins to Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev. The second seed Austrian and third seed Russian will go head-to-head on Arthur Ashe Stadium to see which top five player will earn the chance to playoff for the US Open title.

Neither of these players have won a Grand Slam before, and Thiem knows what it is like to come agonisingly close. He lost to Rafael Nadal in the Roland Garros final twice, and then to Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park earlier this year. Without those players in his way, he knows this is his best chance at saluting in a major. He looked very good against 21st seed Australian Alex de Minaur, brushing him aside in straight sets, 6-1 6-2 6-4 to book his place in the semi-final.

The match lasted two hours and four minutes, with Thiem making light work of his opponent in the first two sets, as the Australian could not get his game going, serving at just 57 per cent and winning only 49 per cent of his first serve points. Thiem capitalised with an 83 per cent success rate of his own first serve points, then hit 43 winners to de Minaur’s 17, whilst only conceding six more unforced errors (31-25). Thiem was playing like a man on a mission and now he is two wins away from ultimate glory.

“I had a great feeling from the first moment on, actually,” Thiem said post-match. “It looks way easier on the scoresheet than it was.”

Thiem knows the weight of expectation on his shoulders, but said it was silly to discount the likes of Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Pablo Carreno Busta just because they did not have the prestige that the ‘Big Three’ had.

“There is no Roger (Federer), Rafa (Nadal) or Novak (Djokovic), but there is Daniil, Sascha (Zverev) and Pablo (Carreno Busta). They are three amazing players. Every single one of us deserves his first major title,” Thiem said. “Everyone will give it all and that’s what’s on the mind. Once we step on the court, the other three are forgotten anyway.”

His next opponent is the toughest, with Medvedev also knowing what getting so close, yet so far is like in a Grand Slam. In fact, it was here 12 months ago where the Russian went all the way to the decider before falling to Nadal in a heartbreaking five sets. Now he is two wins away from going one better after taking care of compatriot, Andrey Rublev in straight sets.

While he might have won in three, they were tight, as Medvedev needed two tiebreakers to win it, 7-6 6-3 7-6 in two hours and 27 minutes before booking a place in the last four. He served up 16 aces to 10, and hit 51 winners to 23 in an aggressive performance to fend off his younger counterpart, only dropping six points on his first serve all match and not being broken once. He only broke Rublev once, as both players were able to control their service games for the most part, in what was a fascinating contest.

“It was tough at the end,” Medvedev said post-match. “Maybe the first time in almost a year I celebrated my win because it was very tough at the end. “I felt like I could get in trouble, so I was really happy to get the win in the tiebreak. “One point decided two sets, so it was a really tough match. “In these moments… you feel like you have to fight for every point,” said Medvedev. “At the same time you are like, ‘Okay, I probably lost the set.’ There is more chance of you losing the set from 1/5 than winning it. It was 3/6 on my serve, so I was going for the second serve… On 5/6, I decided not to go for it and he went just a little bit out. I think it was a very tactical game today and I am really happy to go through.”

The four remaining players will have a rest tomorrow, before resuming play the following day with the semis.

Picture: ATP Tour