The tournament and the city that never sleeps was kept up until 2.04am on Wednesday morning when Rafael Nadal finally toppled Dominic Thiem in an epic US Open quarter-final.
The world number one came through a nerve-shredding sudden death tiebreak 7-5 to recover from a disastrous start and win 0-6 6-4 7-5 6-7 7-6 after four hours and 49 minutes of a baseline war.
Nadal has the best part of two days to recover before a semi-final against Juan Martin Del Potro, while the world No 9 left a stadium largely drained of spectators with nothing more than a reminder of his opponent's incredible fighting qualities.
Rafael Nadal is into the semi-finals of the US Open following a five-set epic with Dominic Thiem
Nadal consoles Thiem after their four hour, 49 minute thriller at Flushing Meadows
Nadal celebrates after wrapping up his five-set quarter-final epic with Thiem at 2.04am
Even the tiebreak was close, with Nadal edging ahead for 6-5 before the Austrian sent a ball sailing long to wrap up a long evening of brutal hitting.
Nadal could easily have wrapped it up in the fourth set and missed five break points in the decider, but found a way to take one last opportunity against Thiem and his flowing single handed backhand.
'It was a great battle and the conditions were tough,' said the Spaniard of another sticky evening.
'I had a tough start and then I stayed in the match in some way. I had chances early in the fourth I didn't convert but I kept going.
'I feel sorry for Dominic, he is a great guy and a great player. I told him I was sorry and that he is good, he is a fighter. I had the passion to keep going always.'
Thiem took the opening set 6-0 before Nadal fought back to leave him disappointed
No 1 seed Nadal unleashes a powerful shot as he kept his defence of the US Open alive
The Arthur Ashe Stadium may never have seen the ball hit consistently harder in this rematch of the French Open final than it was from the second set onwards.
In the first Nadal was all over the place, totally unable to find any rhythm and a set down after just 26 minutes when he won just seven points.
He then started to read Thiem better, and took advantage of the undulating level of the powerful young opponent, whose ball-striking ability is not matched by his tennis IQ.
Nadal seemed to be on the verge of cracking the code when he broke back in the fourth and came within two points of winning the match.
At 6-5 and 30-30, however, he made a horrendous mess of high volley at the net when he had the court at its mercy, prodding it into the net, not totally unlike Roger Federer had done at a similar hour the previous night.
The Spaniard wasted match points in the fourth set before finally cracking Thiem in the fifth
Austrian Thiem also showed admirable fighting qualities in the late night showdown
The disappointment of failing to create a first match point seemed to weigh on him in the tiebreak and he played it dreadfully, showing rare confusion in going 0-3 down and then losing it 7-4.
Perhaps Thiem, after a change of socks and shoes, looked the fresher going into the decider but he needed to save two break points at 2-2, one with an ace, to maintain parity.
It looked like the Austrian, a day past his 25th birthday, had cracked at 5-5 in the fifth but he fought back from 0-40 with one of the points of the match coming at deuce when took three overheads away.
Those that were left roared their approval of him as he left, having been embraced on his side of the net by his conqueror.
Link article
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/05/rafael-nadal-recovers-after-losing-first-set-0-6-to-dominic-thiem-to-win-late-night-epic/
Main photo article The tournament and the city that never sleeps was kept up until 2.04am on Wednesday morning when Rafael Nadal finally toppled Dominic Thiem in an epic US Open quarter-final.
The world number one came through a nerve-shredding sudden death tiebreak 7-5 to recover from a disastrous start and win...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Sport HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/05/07/4FB7BCDD00000578-6133231-image-a-38_1536128171949.jpg
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