MADRID — Roger Federer wasted two match points in a 3-6, 7-6 (11), 6-4 loss to Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open on Friday.
The fifth-seeded Thiem outlasted Federer in the second-set tiebreaker and broke him twice in the third set to close out the match in more than two hours.
Thiem, the runner-up in Madrid the last two seasons, will next face top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who didn’t have to play his quarterfinal after Marin Cilic withdrew because of food poisoning.
Federer had saved two match points himself in a difficult three-set win over Gael Monfils on Thursday. The Madrid Open was his first clay-court tournament in three years.
This article was originally published by Espn.com. Read the original article here.