Thiem ends Rafa run in Spain

A day after breaking the record for successive sets won on a particular surface, Rafa Nadal was beaten in the Madrid quarter finals.

As defending champion, he was unable to retain enough points from last year and so has lost his world number one ranking to Roger Federer.

Dominic Thiem (5) reversed the result of the Madrid final last year, and now has defeated Nadal three times on clay, a feat only two other players - Gastón Gaudio and Novak Djokovic - have achieved.

In the opening set, Thiem stuck hard to the baseline, and by hitting his returns early from both sides, he put pressure on Nadal from the outset, something he wasn’t able to do just weeks ago in Monte Carlo when smashed by Rafa 6-0 6-2.

Unable to convert a set point at 5-4; Thiem won the last two games of set one to lead 7-5.

Leading 3-1 in set two, Thiem stumbled a little, and Nadal was back in the match at 3-3.

However, this was Thiem’s day out, and the Austrian won 10 of 11 points to reach 5-3 and 0-30 on the Spanish serve.

Thiem broke to win 7-5 6-3.

Thiem will play Kevin Anderson in the semis

Kevin Anderson (6) defeated qualifier Dusan Lajovic 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3

Anderson has beaten Thiem all six times they have met, but this will be the first time they will play on clay, and the first time in a final.

Denis Shapovalov defeated Kyle Edmund 7-5 6-7(6) 6-4

He will play Sascha Zverev in the semis

Sascha Zverev (2) defeated John Isner (7) 6-4 7-5

Shapovalov will jump from a career high of 42 to into the top 30

A semi final win would see him in the early twenties

A title win and he would be in the top twenty

Women’s semi finals:

Petra Kvitova (10) defeated Karolina Pliskova (6) 7-6(4) 6-3

She will play Kiki Bertens in the final

Kiki Bertens defeated Caroline Garcia (7) 6-2 6-2

Kiki will achieve a career high ranking of 15 by just reaching the final - if she takes the title, she will be world number 12

With 11 wins from her last 12 matches, Bertens is guaranteed a seeding at Roland Garros, and, with Kvitova, is presently one of the two red hot players on tour.