Thiem ends Nadal run on clay with shock Madrid win

Rafael Nadal suffered a surprise 7-5 6-3 defeat by Austrian Dominic Thiem in the Madrid Open quarterfinals, a result that means the Spaniard will lose the world No.1 ranking.

Thiem, who lost to Nadal in the Monte Carlo quarterfinals last month, was the last player to beat the Spaniard on clay – at last year’s Rome Masters.

Nadal had set a record of winning 50 consecutive sets on a single surface by beating Argentine Diego Schwartzman on Thursday.

The Spaniard’s exit means Roger Federer will reclaim the No.1 spot when the revised ATP rankings are released on Monday.

“Of course, I’m upset,” Nadal told atpworldtour.com.

“I tried to come back. I tried to do it a couple of times, but I wasn’t good enough today. He was better than me today, that’s the end of the story.”

Domi does it again!@ThiemDomi defeats defending champion Nadal 7-5 6-3 to reach #MMOPEN semi-finals. pic.twitter.com/I0xG74Kii4

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 11, 2018

Thiem stuck to the baseline and took his groundstrokes early to unsettle Nadal, who was unusually below par in the opening set on his favourite surface, making several unforced errors.

Although the 24-year-old Austrian failed to convert a set point in the ninth game, he pounced at the second time of asking to seal the first set with an ace.

A couple of mistimed forehands from Nadal handed Thiem an early 3-1 advantage in the second set but the defending champion fought back to draw level after six games.

But Thiem was not to be denied and won 10 of the next 11 points to snuff out any chance of a Nadal comeback, sealing victory with a powerful cross-court winner in under two hours.

“Some days you don’t play as good as you would like to play. Also when that happens it’s because your opponent is doing really well,” added Nadal.

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The result means that fifth seed Thiem becomes only the third player – after Argentine Gaston Gaudio and Serb Novak Djokovic – to beat Nadal on clay on three occasions.

“I had to really increase my level compared to Monte Carlo to beat Rafa here,” Thiem said.

“He won 21 matches on clay and 50 sets. So I had to play an extraordinary match, and that’s what I did.

“I think a very important thing also was today that I went in with the attitude that I can beat him.”

In the Madrid semifinals on Saturday, Thiem faces big-serving South African Kevin Anderson, who has beaten the Austrian in their last six encounters.

Sixth seed Anderson, who was runner-up at last year’s US Open, beat Serb Dusan Lajovic 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3 earlier on Friday.

In the other half of the draw, 19-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov won a close contest against Kyle Edmund 7-5 6-7(6) 6-4 and goes onto face Alexander Zverev or John Isner.