Dominic Thiem takes QF ticket at Rolex Monte Carlo Masters

Rolex Monte Carlo Masters is a great clay court tournament with a fantastic view. Clay courts are great to watch and players here are fierce and eager. As you may all know Rafa Nadal has won this tournament for 10 times. As he is the king of clay, he is the absolute favourite again this year but who knows what will happen? 3rd round matches are playing today in courts.

Today's favourite match for me is the one with Novak Djokovis vs Dominic Thiem.  It is important for us to understand how Novak Djokovic is doing after elbow injury. As he passed Lajovic and yesterday Coric in 2 sets, it was all good signs for him. But would it be enough to beat a young and successful clay court player Dominic Thiem?

As you may remember the last time these two player met was Freanch Open 2017 and Thiem beat Djokovic in 3 sets. Although Djokovic leads 5-1 head to head series.

Champions are always champions. No matter what they have been through. Today we witnessed many moments that although Novak Djokovic is not %100 ready physically, he survived from many hot shots just because he has great talent, champion heart, incredible instinct on court. 

Djokovic was a bit dull at the beginning. So Thiem took this advantage and made it to 5-2 in beginner quickly. But if you are playing against Djokovic, you should never forget that he is like a predator, always looking opportunity to come back and get you. It happened just like that when Thiem couldn't use 3 set points. Djokovic used his class, his experience, his genius mind to come back and took the first set after a tie-break 7-6.

Dominic Thiem is a very hard working player. He attends 27-30 tournaments per year which is very remarkable. He had some injury from his right ankle and rested for 5 weeks. Now he looks pretty in shape and confident to himself.

Dominic Thiem started 2. set determined and unyielding. It s a great quality to see from a 24 year old player. Especially when you are against 12 time GS champion. It tells us about his game a lot. His tennis becomes mature, his mind is on focus and he is still confident himself after losing a set which are key factors for winning a match. For a while in second set when the score was 2-2, Thiem broke Novak's service and after that Novak couldn't find his focus again and lost it to 6-2.

When rallies getting longer, it is not an advantage for Novak as he needs to play more matches to find his rythm and be %100 physically sufficient, Thiem got points. His one-hand backhands worked very well.

In the 3rd set pace was a bit slower and you could feel the tension in the air. First Djokovic was comfortable in his service games. For one game he was very close to break Thiem's service but i guess when the match is getting longer, he started to have fatigue. It is very normal if considering the fact that almost a year he only played 7-8 matches. Dominic Thiem used his opponent's exhaustion and send him always one more ball. Finally Thiem found his chance to break him at 3-3. It is very obvious that Djokovic's strength was not enough to beat Thiem this time. Dominic took the match in 3 sets 6-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Although Djokovic lost, I found his game , his shots, his body language vey positive. The process he has been through is normal after a surgery and being in pain. He needs some more time and play more matches but it looks obvious that he is very close to get his personal best.

For Dominic Thiem, I really like and support this young generation of tennis. They are all very valuable for tennis world. Thiem will probably face with Rafa Nadal in QF. As much as I like Thiem, I don't think that Rafa Nadal will give him a chance. But tennis is always full of surprises.

If we look the other matches for QF: Milos Raonic withdraw because of knee injury. Marin Cilic is in the QF.

David Goffin will face Grigor Dimitrov in QF. And the other matches are playing at the moment. We will find out rest of the quarter finalists later today.

*Photos taken from both players' instagram pages.