Second seed Dominic Thiem laid down a marker in the US Open quarterfinals as he blitzed 21st seed Alex De Minaur 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 on Arthur Ashe Stadium as the Austrian advanced to the semifinals in Flushing Meadows for the first time in his career.
The Austrian got off to quick starts in all three sets and never looked back as he fired 43 winners en route to a semifinal showdown with third seed Daniil Medvedev.
Second seed overpowers De Minaur throughout, reaches last four
Thiem asserted his dominance right away. After holding to open the match, he won a long game to break for a 2-0 lead only to see de Minaur break back. The Aussie had the tempo of the match at his favor, but he was playing far more aggressively than he is used to and he committed back-to-back errors to give the Austrian a 3-1 edge.
After saving four break points to widen his advantage, Thiem broke for a third time in the set to go ahead 5-1. Serving for the set, he arrived at double set point when de Minaur overhit a backhand and he only needed one, an ace down the middle putting the second seed up a set.
The 21st seed improved on his serve at the beginning of the second set, holding to love in his first two service games. He was still pushing Thiem on serve, getting to deuce, but no further. Disaster struck for the Australian in the fifth game, a thumping forehand by the Austrian drawing no reply and a double fault on break point giving Thiem a 3-2 lead.
He was soon up a double break as another double fault on break point by de Minaur gave him a 5-2 advantage. He held to love, overpowering the Aussie with his forehand serve to take a two-set lead, the match being one-way traffic so far. Things would only get worse for de Minaur as he was broken to start the third set.
It seemed to be all over for the Aussie, but suddenly a forehand error gave him a break point and a backhand into the net on break point by Thiem gave de Minaur the break back as the set was level at 3-3. After saving a trio of break chances, the 21st seed was ahead in the match for the first time at 4-3.
Thiem finished with a flourish, a hold followed by a missed volley by de Minaur to set up double break point and an exchange of slices ended when the Aussie missed, handing the Austrian a 5-4 lead. A hold to love, capped off by a sizzling forehand winner sent the second seed into Friday's semifinals.