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Sports 39
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2020
MELBOURNE (AFP) - Tireless Domi-
nic Thiem came from a set down to
outlast German Alexander Zverev
and make his irst Australian Open
inal yesterday, booking a show-
down with seven-time champion
Novak Djokovic.
The 26-year-old ifth seed, the
irst player from Austria ever to
reach the Melbourne decider, bat-
tled past seventh-ranked Zverev
3‹6, 6‹4, 7‹6 (7/3), 7‹6 (7/4) on a
sweltering evening.
Defending champion Djokovic
awaits himafter the second seed end-
ed Roger Federer’s dreams in straight
sets on Thursday night to make his
eighth Melbourne Park inal.
Thiem has his work cut out
against theSerbwho is ona 12-match
unbeaten streak this season and has
won all seven of the Australian Open
deciders he has contested.
And if Djokovic needs extra mo-
tivation, winning tomorrow will see
him reclaim the world number one
ranking after Rafael Nadal crashed
to Thiem in the last eight.
“It was an unreal match, two tie-
breakers, so tough and so close.
It was almost impossible to break
him,” said Thiem.
“Being in the Australian Open
inal is unreal. What a start to the
season for me.”
Thiem had dealt with semi-
final pressure before, although
always on the slower red clay at
Roland Garros, where he reached
the past two finals only to be
beaten by Nadal.
That experience paid dividends
as he coolly closed out the match
after 3hrs 42 mins to give himself
another chance to break the stran-
glehold of the Big Three and win his
irst Grand Slam.
“I was playing four hours 10
against Rafa (in the quarter-inals),
who is the most intense guy on
tour, almost always so intense and
long,” Thiem said.
MELBOURNE (AFP) - Garbine Mugu-
ruza won only one match between
June and December last year. Suf-
fering illness, she was then thrashed
0‹6 by a qualiier in her irst set at
the Australian Open.
Now the 26-year-old faces Amer-
ican surprise-package Soia Kenin
in the inal in Melbourne today, on
the cusp of a third Grand Slam title.
The Venezuelan-born Spaniard
has been keen to play down the
swift transformation in her fortunes,
but the facts speak for themselves.
Dial back to July 2017, when Mu-
guruza won Wimbledon to go with
her French Open title a year ear-
lier. In September 2017 she rose to
world number one.
What followed was a gradual but
marked decline that she is only re-
versing now.
Muguruza won one title in 2018,
in Monterrey, Mexico, the other high
point reaching the French Open
semi-inals.
She retained her Monterrey crown
in 2019 but lost in the irst round at
Wimbledon in July, precipitating a
dire run where she reached only one
second round in ive tournaments.
In Melbourne, Muguruza bristled
at one reporter’s suggestion that
she had been stuck in a “coma” for
the last two years.
“I think a ‘coma’ is a pretty strong
comment. I would say I think those
years were less successful if you
compare them tomy previous years,”
said Muguruza, unseeded at a Grand
Slam for the irst time since 2014.
“I just think you struggle as
a player and there are moments
where things don’t go your way.
“You just have to be patient and
go through the rough moments,
just hang in there and it will come
back again.”
Come back again it certainly
has and Muguruza, now at 32 in the
world rankings, will dart up to 11th if
she beats Kenin in the inal.
Despite giving the impression that
she merely waited for her A-game to
return, Muguruza in fact made two
major decisions last November.
The first was to climb Mount
Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak.
It was a test physically and men-
tally, said Muguruza, who hates
cold weather.
It helped clear her head of tennis
for a few days. “YES! We felt ALIVE!”
she exclaimed on Instagram.
More signiicantly, Muguruza re-
united with fellow former Wimble-
don champion and compatriot Con-
chita Martinez as her coach.
Martinez was on Muguruza’s
team in 2017 when she won Wim-
bledon. The 47-year-old memorably
said in Melbourne that they were
the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston
of tennis - meaning they were des-
tined to be together again.
The results were immediate.
In her irst tournament of the year
Muguruza reached the semi-inals
in Shenzhen. She then made the
quarter-inals in Hobart, but pulled
out with a viral illness.
She was still su¨ering the e¨ects
when she folded 0‹6 in the irst set
to American qualiier Shelby Rogers
in the irst round in Melbourne.
Only just well enough to play,
she said, Muguruza recovered to
win the next two sets 6‹1, 6‹0, and
her Australian Open had begun.
She beat three top-10 seeds on the
way to the inal.
Martinez said yesterday there
was no magic bullet - they focussed
on Muguruza’s itness at the begin-
ning and worked on “a lot of aspects
of her tennis”.
MELBOURNE (AFP) - Roger Feder-
er’s fans call him the Greatest Of
All Time (GOAT) but after defeat
at the Australian Open his hold on
the men’s record for career Grand
Slam titles is growing ever weaker.
When Federer walked gingerly
o¨ Rod Laver Arena on Thursday
after his injury-hit semi-inal loss
to Novak Djokovic, he will have
been acutely aware that at 38
years old, time is running out to
add to his 20 Major wins.
Rafael Nadal, 33, stands on 19
Grand Slam titles and is the favou-
rite to reach 20 at the French Open
in May-June - a tournament where
he has only lost three times.
Djokovic, 32, has 16 Major tro-
phies and is going for an eighth
Australian Open title tomorrow.
He shows no signs of slowing
down after winning four Grand
Slams in the past two years.
Federer will be closing on his
39th birthday by the time Roland
Garros andWimbledon roll around
- nearly two years older than Ken
Rosewall when he became the
oldest Grand Slam champion at
37 at the 1972 Australian Open.
Federer’s last Grand Slam title
came at the Australian Open two
years ago.
So while Federer may still
wield the sweetest backhand in
the game, in the fullness of time
it could be his elegant style rather
than his record that sets him apart
from his peers.
However, the Swiss is not go-
ing without a ight and as the
years advance, his resilience, if
anything, is increasing. Federer
pulled o¨ two breathtaking es-
capes in the earlier rounds in
Melbourne. He was two points
from defeat to John Millman
and saved seven match points
against Tennys Sandgren in the
quarter-inals.
After a groin strain in the
Sandgren match, rumours swirled
that Federer may not even take
the court against Djokovic. He
admitted that by playing he was
risking the irst retirement in his
1,513-match career.
“Today was horrible, to go
through what I did,” Federer gri-
maced after Djokovic’s 7‹6 (7/1),
6‹4, 6‹3 win.
Djokovic is well aware of
Federer’s endurance after their
ive-hour epic of a Wimbledon i-
nal last year when the Swiss held
two match points before going
down in a marathon ifth set.
“It’s an amazing fact that he
has never retired from a match,
not a single match, throughout
his career. Huge respect for that,”
said Djokovic.
Federer is not about to retire
from the sport either, although he
knows injuries could make the de-
cision for him.
“You never know what the fu-
ture holds. But especially my age,
you don’t know,” he said, when
asked if he would be back in Mel-
bourne next year.
“I’m conident. I’m happy how
I’m feeling, to be honest. I got
through a good, nice training
block. No plans to retire.”
Thiem outlasts Zverev to
make Aussie Open final
“So it was not easy to recover.
But once all the adrenalin came,
already when I walked into the full
stadium was ine, actually, but still I
had some troubles in the irst set.”
A jittery Thiem was broken in
the opening game, saving two
break points before sending a
backhand wide to immediately be
on the back foot.
Both players were nervous and
the German failed to consolidate,
broken straight back.
Their momentum was interrupt-
ed when rain began falling and the
roof needed closing, but it was only
a brief intermission and Zverev re-
sumed to hold for 2‹2.
Thiem was still struggling with
his irst serve and a double fault
handed the German a chance to go
4‹3 in front and he grabbed it.
Zverev took command, putting
90 per cent of his booming irst
serves in, and broke again to seal
the set as the Austrian error-count
mounted.
But the 22-year-old lost focus
and two double faults in game three
of the second set handed Thiem a
2‹1 lead.
Zverev managed to break back
but he was too erratic as Thiem
broke again and clung on, iring an
ace to take set two.
Bizarrely, play was halted for nine
minutes one game into the third set
when a light went out above the
baseline and it bothered Zverev.
When they resumed, Thiem held
serve and then broke with an epic
backhand winner as Zverev again
lost concentration and the momen-
tum appeared to shift.
Thiem is one of the best returners
in the game and was getting almost
every ball back. He looked to be on
his way, but Zverev refused to surren-
der and broke again to even it up.
It went to a tiebreak where Thi-
em turned on the style to take a
stranglehold on the match.
Dominic Thiem celebrates after defeating Alexander Zverev during their
semi inal match at the Australian Open. PHOTO: AP
Muguruza climbs back from brink to make Melbourne final
Time running out for ‘GOAT’
Federer as rivals close in
Garbine Muguruza celebrates after
defeating Simona Halep in their
semi inal match at the Australian
Open. PHOTO: AP
Roger Federer congratulates Novak Djokovic. PHOTO: AP