Points won by each set: [ 39-29, 32-28, 34-22 ]
Points won directly behind the serve:
20 % Nadal – 17 of 82
16 % Thiem – 17 of 102
I thought that Thiem [8] would make an upset if he had won the opener. Unfortunately he displayed the worst possible start obtaining just one point in the first two games. Since then he was constantly on the back foot, made very bad errors serving at 4:5 to lose five straight games. Then he played his best tennis for 10-15 minutes, but it wasn’t enough to level in the 2nd set. Nadal [1] converted his fifth match point with a service winner and that time celebrated calmer than usually, just raising his hands in the air. It’s a bit sad that in terms of the scorelines Thiem hasn’t improved in the past two years vs Nadal on Philippe Chatrier comparing to their first meeting four years before when the inexperienced Austrian was ranked No. 57 and simply enjoyed sharing the court with the “King of Clay” #
Nadal’s route to his 79th title (11th RG):
1 Simone Bolelli 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(9)
2 Guido Pella 6-2, 6-1, 6-1
3 Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
4 Maximilian Marterer 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(4)
Q Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
S Juan M. Del Potro 6-4, 6-1, 6-2
W Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-3, 6-2