By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, January 23, 2017
David Goffin defeated Dominic Thiem, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-2, to advance to his first AO quarterfinal.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
David Goffin opened the tournament downsizing a pair of tennis goliaths.
Today, a calm Goffin took a giant leap over a major obstacle.
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The 11th-seeded Goffin deconstructed Dominic Thiem, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-2, to become the first Belgian man to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals.
It was a milestone win for the 26-year-old Goffin, who earned his first career Top 10 win in a Grand Slam tournament and is projected to crack the Top 10 for the first time when the new ATP rankings are released.
Facing his friend and sometime practice partner, Goffin withstood some torrid shotmaking from Thiem in the opening set, squeezed out the second set in a tie break then drained the legs and accuracy from the 23-year-old Austrian.
Ultimately Goffin handled the heat—and scorching drives from his opponent—with cool confidence.
"Yeah, I think I can play five more sets," Goffin joked to Jim Courier afterward. "I kept fighting, that was the key, just stay in the match. Mentally, I'm tired."
Goffin will play either 15th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov or 117th-ranked wild card Denis Istomin, who toppled defending champion Novak Djokovic, for a semifinal spot.
The 5-foot-11 Goffin showed his problem-solving skills downsizing a pair of 6-foot-11 players—Reilly Opelka and Ivo Karlovic—en route to the fourth round.
In a rematch of the 2016 Australian Open third-round, which Goffin won, the Belgian drew first blood breaking for a 2-0 lead against Thiem.
Unloading massive baseline blasts, Thiem broke back. Whipping his backhand down the line with authority, Thiem broke again for 6-5 in building a one-set lead.
The Roland Garros semifinalist hits the heavier ball, but the slender Goffin takes the ball earlier and plays off pace extremely effectively. On this day, Goffin played a much cleaner match. Overhitting often, Thiem made nearly 30 more unforced errors (58 to 29) as Goffin.
A brilliant backhand winner gave Goffin the mini break in the second-set tie break. He extended the lead to 4-1, but netted a poor drop shot as Thiem leveled for 4-all.
Goffin has beefed up his first serve a bit in the offseason and it helped him snatch the set. Curling an ace down the T for 5-4, Goffin earned set point on a Thiem shanked backhand. When Thiem launched a forehand long, Goffin evened the match.
In the third set, Goffin spread the court shrewdly earning double break point. Thiem saved them both, but the increasingly erratic Austrian spit up a double fault then followed with a forehand error donating the break and a 3-2 lead.
Striking sharp angles, Goffin backed up the break at love.
The world No. 11 reeled off five consecutive games rolling through the third set.
As on-court temperatures soared to 98 degrees Fahrenheit, Goffin’s blue shirt was dripping sweat as he slid a forehand winner to earn a break point. When Thiem missed the mark with a forehand, the Belgian had the break and a 2-1 fourth-set lead.
An increasingly weary Thiem completely lost the plot scattering four unforced errors to gift a love break and 5-2 lead to Goffin.
Crunching an ace for match point, Goffin closed on an error reaching his second major quarterfinal after advancing to the last eight in Paris last summer.