Top seed Nadal eliminated from Australian Open

World number one in tennis, Rafael Nadal was eliminated from the 2020 Australian Open over Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Austria's Dominic Thiem. Thiem reserved his place for the semifinals for the first time, winning the fourhour match against Nadal with the sets of 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 at Rod Laver Arena.

The 19-time grand slam singles champion, Nadal became the Australian Open champion in 2009, his only title in the tournament. The 33-yearold player was unable to end his 11-year quest in Melbourne. Since his only Australian Open triumph, Nadal played 2012, 2014, 2017, and 2019 finals in Australia.

"I can't wait to be back on Friday," Thiem, 26, said after his victory over Nadal. Thiem will face his German opponent Alexander Zverev in this year's semifinals.

Meanwhile, the 2020 semifinals in men's will see a worthwatching battle between two giants, Switzerland's Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic of Serbia. After the match, Thiem said, "I'm very happy that I won the tiebreak, otherwise we would be in the fifth now. Feeling good so far but I'm full of adrenaline, full of happy moments so we'll see when that is off how I feel tomorrow."

In terms of a head-to-head record, Nadal is still 9-5 ahead against Thiem. However, this marked the Austrian 26-yearsold's first victory against the Spanish legend in any Grand Slam event.

After the match, Thiem said, "I'm very happy that I won the tiebreak, otherwise we would be in the fifth now. Feeling good so far but I'm full of adrenaline, full of happy moments so we'll see when that is off how I feel tomorrow."

In terms of a head-to-head record, Nadal is still 9-5 ahead against Thiem.