Can French Open pretender Thiem dethrone King of Clay Nadal?

We’ve been tipping up Dominic Thiem to do the business in the French Open for some time now, and now the Austrian is living up to our expectations.

The 23-year-old is in his first Slam semi-final, and he’s done so in blistering style.

Not only did Thiem defeat 12-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets – Thiem threw in a third-set bagel too!

It was a sensational performance from the man many are tipping to rule the roost in years to come.

And our traders make Thiem second-favourite at 6/1 to win his first Slam this weekend.

But of course he’s behind 4/11 favourite Nadal in the betting.

The pair are easily the clay season’s star performances, with Nadal boasting a 22-1 record this year, and Thiem similarly impressive at 20-3.

So what the odds are saying is that this year’s French Open winner will come from the victor of the semi-final between the pair.

The King of Clay is 1/4 favourite to prevail, but his young pretender is the value option at 3/1.

The pair have met six times before – all on the dirt – with Nadal 4-2 ahead.

But it’s the results from this year’s three previous meetings which has intrigued.

In April the duo contested the Barcelona Open final, where the Spanish ace came out 6-4 6-1.

A fortnight later they vied for the Madrid Open title, and again Nadal prevailed.

This time Thiem forced a first-set tie-break, before losing the second set 6-4.

But then in their third meeting, this time in Rome, the Austrian turned the tables with a 6-4 6-3 victory.

He has steadily improved each and every time he has taken on the clay’s greatest ever player, and victory over Djokovic will only enhance his confidence.

It should be a thrilling contest to watch, and over 3.5 sets looks assured at 4/6.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing