Dom stuns clay king Rafa to topple world No.1
RAFA NADAL suffered a shock defeat by Dominic Thiem in Madrid – a result that will rob him of the world No.1 ranking.
Thiem triumphed 7-5 6-3 to set up today’s semi-final clash with South African Kevin Anderson.
He was also the last player to beat the Spaniard on clay at last year’s Rome Masters. Nadal had set a record of winning 50 straight sets on a single surface by beating Diego Schwartzman on Thursday.
And his exit means Roger Federer will reclaim top spot in the ATP rankings on Monday.
Nadal said: “I haven’t been good enough today. He was better than me. That’s the end of the story.”
Thiem becomes only the third player – after Gaston Gaudio and Novak Djokovic – to beat Nadal on clay on three occasions. The Austrian said: “He won 21 matches on clay and 50 sets. So I had to play an extraordinary match and that’s what I did.”
Britain’s Kyle Edmund, who knocked Djokovic out, saw his campaign end with defeat to Canada’s Denis Shapovalov.
Edmund saved a match point at the end of a feisty second set where the Englishman was distracted by a spectator.
But he could not hold off his 19-year-old opponent who broke early in the third and served well to triumph 7-5 6-7 (7/6) 6-4.
Jamie Murray and partner Bruno Soares crashed out of the doubles, losing 6-4 6-7 10-7 to American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan in a thriller.