By Chris Oddo | Thursday June 2, 2016

Austria’s wunderkind Dominic Thiem reached his maiden major semifinal on Thursday in Paris, battling past David Goffin in a high-stakes quarterfinal, 4-6 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-1.

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On a chilly day in slow conditions, the 22-year-old warmed to the task after falling behind by a set and a break to Goffin. He would rally in the second set to force a tiebreaker and later saved a set point at 6-all before drawing even. The pair exchanged in many long, physical rallies with very little between them, and it was Goffin who led by a break for much of the third set.

“Honestly in the second set—honestly in the whole second set I didn't really think that I'm going to win this match, because, yeah, he was just on top of me,” Thiem said. “He was the better player the first two sets maybe, or until the tiebreak.”

Could it have been a different outcome if Goffin would have closed out that second set? “It's difficult to say,” the Belgian said. “I haven't got a crystal ball with me.”

He added: “Even with two sets for me, I don't know, you know, how he would have reacted. But he decided to stay and hang on, and he played better and better even during the fourth set. Despite the rain and the very heavy conditions, he was hitting very strongly.”

Thiem would rally to grab the final three games of the third set before reeling off the first five of the fourth set. After a quick survival hold by Goffin, Thiem finished off his victory with an easy hold, booking his spot alongside Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and assuring at the very least a No. 7 ranking in next week’s rankings.

Theim pumped in 49 winners against 46 unforced errors and broke serve eight times on 17 opportunities. He improved to 3-4 against Goffin and became the first Austrian to reach the last four at Roland Garros since Jurgen Melzer in 2010.

Thiem improves to 41-10 on the season. In all of 2015, the Austrian won 36 matches and did not record a single Top 10 victory. This year Thiem has wins over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and three Top 10 wins in total.

On Friday the Austrian will meet Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Thiem has dropped both of his previous matches with the Serb in straight sets, both on hard courts.

“It's gonna be unbelievably tough,” Thiem said. “I think he's a little bit on a different level than all the other players, but still I'm in good shape and the match starts at 0-0. Everything I can do is give all I have, give my best, and then we will see what happens.”