ATP Barcelona: Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal fill the dozen
Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem will face each other for the twelfth time in the semi-finals of the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Barcelona. The defending champion from Spain is the favorite in the match (from 4 p.m. live on Sky, in Austria on ServusTV, and in our live ticker).
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 26, 2019, 11:02 pm
One thing is almost impossible: That the Saturday semi-final match between Rafael Nadal and Dominc Thiem at the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Barcelona ends just as late as the last meeting of the two: the stadium had clock at half past one in the morning Displayed in New York City in fall 2018, Rafael Nadal just sealed his entry into the semi-finals with an epic five-set win against Thiem. That he couldn't finish playing against Juan Martin del Potro.
In Barcelona the start time is not before 4 p.m., the match before that between Daniil Medvedev and Kei Nishikori starts at 1:30 p.m., of course there are only a maximum of three sets. Nadal struggled in his quarter-final against Jan-Lennard Struff, the Warsteiner presented the favorites with tough, flat balls before difficult tasks. it speaks for the defending champion in Barcelona, but that he has solved these tasks.
Thiem slid back into the seed list
Guido Pella, in turn, chose the defensive approach against Thiem, leaving the initiative to the Austrians. Which he especially enjoyed from the beginning of the second sentence. Pella had last shown strong tennis against Nadal in Monte Carlo, but there was no herb against the power of Thiem in Barcelona early Thursday evening.
For Thiem and Nadal, it will be the second meeting in the Catalan capital on Saturday, as early as 2017 the two faced each other in the final. That would also have been the original plan for the current edition, but due to the late wildcard for Alexander Zverev Thiem slipped from position two to three in the seed list - and onto the branch of Rafael Nadal. Rarely has the phrase of an early final been more appropriate than this match of the clay court giants.
Here are the previous matches between Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal
| competition | winner | Result |
| US Open 2018 (hard court) | Rafael Nadal | 0: 6, 6: 4, 7: 5, 6: 7 (4), 7: 6 (5) |
| French Open 2018 (sand) | Rafael Nadal | 6: 4, 6: 3, 6: 2 |
| Madrid 2018 (sand) | Dominic Thiem | 7: 5, 6: 3 |
| Monte Carlo 2018 | Rafael Nadal | 6: 2, 6: 0 |
| French Open 2017 (sand) | Rafael Nadal | 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 0 |
| Rome 2017 (sand) | Dominic Thiem | 6: 4, 6: 3 |
| Madrid 2017 (sand) | Rafael Nadal | 7: 6 (8), 6: 4) |
| Barcelona 2017 (sand) | Rafael Nadal | 6: 4, 6: 1 |
| Monte Carlo 2016 (sand) | Rafael Nadal | 7: 5, 6: 3 |
| Buenos Aires 2016 (sand) | Dominic Thiem | 6: 4, 4: 6, 7: 6 (4) |
| French Open 2014 (sand) | Rafael Nadal | 6: 2, 6: 2, 6: 3 |