Dominic Thiem wins 13th career title in Barcelona – beats King of Clay Rafael Nadal on clay along the way

I’ve been waiting for the past few years for Austrian star Dominic Thiem to step up and become the next big thing in tennis. He took a big step towards doing so by winning the Barcelona Open on Sunday – one of the key warm-ups tournaments for the French Open where Theim was runner up last year to Rafael Nadal.

Thiem beat Nadal in the semis on Barcelona before going on to beat Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-0 in the final.

It was the world number 5′s second title of the year and 13th overall. In March he edged Roger Federer 7-5 in the third to win the tournament in Indian Wells.

“It’s such an honour to win this tournament, looking at all the names who have won it I’m very happy and proud that my name is also there now,” Thiem, who prevented Nadal from his bid to win a record-extending 12th title in Barcelona.

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Special moments #13

A post shared by Dominic Thiem (@domithiem) on Apr 28, 2019 at 9:33am PDT