Dominic Thiem beats Novak Djokovic at French Open – faces Rafael Nadal in semifinals on Friday

Aside from Roger Federer, Austria’s Dominic Thiem has become my favorite tennis player. Love his game, love his attitude, love his looks. Dominic, 23, finds himself in the semifinals of the French Open for the second straight year. To get there, he knocked out No. 2-seed Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals earlier today.

With the win, Thiem avenged his loss to Djokovic last month in the Rome semifinals. He will play Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. Thiem is the only player who has beaten Nadal on clay this season.

‘It’s amazing for me, I was 0-5 against him. To beat him for the first time in the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam… it’s a dream,” Thiem said after the match. “It was tricky today. A lot of wind, it was colder. It was important to move well and hit clean, and I did that today…It’s amazing how difficult it is to go deep in a Grand Slam because you have to play the best guys round after round and it’s not getting easier on Friday.”