20-year-old Theim upsets Australian Open winner in second round; Serena, Nadal advance
Austrian qualifier Dominic Thiem scored the biggest victory of his young career on Tuesday when he rallied for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over third-ranked Stanislas Wawrinka at the Madrid Open.
The 20-year-old Thiem showed composure beyond his years in knocking the Australian Open champion out of the clay court event to reach the third round. Thiem called on a thunderous array of baseline strokes and soft net touches to oust the third-seeded Wawrinka, who reached the final at Madrid's Magic Box tennis center last year. Thiem looked out of his depth as he struggled to find his rhythm early on Manolo Santana center court.
"I didn't have many matches against these top guys, so I wasn't really used to his pace. He had an unbelievable start and I didn't really know what happened," the 70th-ranked Thiem said. "I started to get used to more and more his pace and angles and his game. I played unbelievable the second and the third set."
Wawrinka may have dropped his guard after the easy opening as Thiem pulled even after bombarding his opponent with powerful backhanders.
Wawrinka, coming off a clay court win in Monte Carlo, gathered himself for the final set - with both players holding serve until the 10th game when Thiem slapped another strong backhand across Wawrinka and down the line for 30-15. A gentle drop shot from Thiem following a long rally of groundstrokes set up match point on Wawrinka's serve.
"I was in this famous 'zone' during the match. I was really unbelievable concentrated," said Thiem, who scored his first victory over a top-10 player on his third attempt. Thiem converted his third break point to win the match as Wawrinka sent his crosscourt backhand wide.
"I had some chance in the third set (and) I should have played better when I had some opportunity," said Wawrinka, who slipped to his fourth defeat of 2014. "But I was hesitating with my game and he went for it and deserved it."
Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal breezed into the Madrid Open third round with their title defenses facing little strain on Wednesday.
Williams broke Shuai Peng three times in a 6-2, 6-3 win that was her 14th straight on the clay of the Magic Box tennis center, where the top-seeded American dominated her Chinese opponent on serve by firing 11 aces.
Williams, who moves on to face Spanish player Carla Suarez Navarro, looked fresh and focused while dismissing any injury fears despite a heavily wrapped left leg.
"I just had some issues and went preventive to make sure I didn't make anything worse," said Williams. "I'm literally taking it one day, one match at a time, and not putting any pressure on myself."
Nadal, meanwhile, certainly fed his confidence with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Juan Monaco of Argentina, just what the top-seeded Spaniard needed after coming to the Spanish capital on his worst clay run in a decade.
Nadal, the greatest ever player on the red surface, failed to advance past the quarterfinals of his last two clay tournaments. But after Monaco broke to get to within 2-1, Nadal did not relent as he didn't drop another game at Manolo Santana center court. Nadal faces Jarrko Nieminen next after the Finn beat Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-2.
Also, Tomas Berdych moved to a perfect 11-0 against Kevin Anderson following his 6-1, 6-4 win over the South African. In other women's results, fourth-seeded Simona Halep of Romania advanced, while Roberta Vinci of Italy knocked out Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-3.