Courage not enough as Thiem savages de Minaur in US Open quarters
Will and courage can only get you so far on a tennis court.
Australia's Alex de Minaur has both of those characteristics in spades, but it wasn't anywhere near enough to get him past world No.3 Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals of the US Open.
Thiem, the Australian Open finalist, dismantled world No.28 de Minaur 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in just over two hours on Arthur Ashe Stadium to ease his way through to the semi-finals, where he will face Russia's world No.5 Daniil Medvedev.
Alex de Minaur is out of the US Open after falling in straight sets to Dominic Thiem.Credit:AP
Thiem is a triple grand slam finalist, but with no Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic to stand in his way, now has the chance to claim his maiden title and truly announce his arrival as a standard bearer once the "big three" of Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer finally loosen their grip on the majors.
Thiem was heavily favoured to beat de Minaur, who is still just 21 and would have taken a great deal out of the defeat. Still, he must find a way to compete with the power players on the tour and was no match for the in-form Thiem, who was clinical throughout, aside from a flat spot when de Minaur pressed in the third set.
Thiem fired off 11 aces to just one from de Minaur and terrorised his serve from the opening exchanges. Thiem won 83 per cent of his first serves compared to just 49 per cent for the Australian, who tried to mix up his tactics multiple times, to no avail.
Thiem saved five of seven break points, while de Minaur was constantly under siege, saving six of 13 break points and was unable to hold his serve until the first game of the second set.
Dominic Thiem storms into the US Open semi-finals.Credit:AP
After the match, Thiem said he felt the scoreline flattered him to a degree, given the abundance of long rallies as de Minaur did everything he could to make Thiem earn his points the hard way.
"I had a great feeling from the first moment," Thiem said. "First set and also second, it looks way easier on the scoresheet than it was actually. Third set, I lost momentum and he came back great.
"I felt the energy coming back, because the match was going flat. It's not easy in an empty stadium. We both got our energy back and there it was an amazing level. With two sets in my bag, it was a little bit easier for me."
There were warning signs for de Minaur right from the start. He lost his opening service match, then steadied to break back, only to watch his serve be handled with increasing ease by Thiem as the Austrian took control of the first set.
De Minaur was mustering as much resistance as he could and down 3-1, had Thiem at 0-40 on serve but was unable to convert any of his break points. Instead, Thiem composed himself and then raced away with the set in just 40 minutes.
The Australian had to change up his game and when he emerged for the second set was able to conjure his first service hold of the match. But he was struggling to find a way to make inroads into Thiem's power game and it didn't take long for his opponent to take an iron grip on the contest with a 6-2 second-set victory.
De Minaur was never going to let Thiem roll right over the top of him and finally found some weapons of his own in the third set as Thiem looked to fatigue slightly, while his serve was beginning to tighten.
That enabled de Minaur get get back into the conversation and take a 4-3 lead. He looked as if he would be able to claw a set back, but Thiem simply took his game to new levels of excellence to close it out in brilliant style.
His backhand is a sight to behold and when he decided he wanted to end it quickly, did just that, flying through the final games and setting up the win with his seventh break of serve.