Nadal into French Open semi-finals, Thiem dismantles titleholder Djokovic

Xinhua | Updated: 2017-06-08 10:02

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Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts during his quarter final match against Austria's Dominic Thiem in French Open at Roland Garros, Paris, France on June 7, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

However, he didn't expect Djokovic to stand in front of him, as the titleholder displayed lackluster performance in a 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-0 loss to the sixth-seeded Thiem.

After losing the tiebreak in the first set, Djokovic's hitting quality and mentality was downgraded with the match going on. Thiem avenged his recnt loss to Djokovic in the semifinals in Rome with a total of 38 winners despite 28 unforced errors, while the Serbian only had 18 winners against 35 unforced errors.

The sensational victory over the defending champion provided huge confidence to Thiem, who expected to continue his winning streak against Nadal after the quarterfinal win in Rome in their latest matchup.