Dominic Thiem beat Rafa Nadal in straight sets in the Madrid Open quarterfinals. (Source: Reuters)
Rafa Nadal suffered his first defeat on clay in a year when he went down to Austria’s Dominic Thiem in the Madrid Open quarterfinals. Thiem’s 7-5, 6-3 win ended Rafa’s streak of 50 consecutive sets unbeaten on the surface and also Nadal’s 21 match winning streak. Coincidentally, Nadal’s last defeat on the surface had come to Thiem when the Spaniard had lost at the Rome Open quarterfinals one year ago.
Since that defeat, Nadal won his tenth French Open title and then US Open on the hard-court to take his Grand Slam haul to 16. He came into the Madrid Open having won his 11th title at Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
But Thiem beat Nadal at his own game, finishing long rallies with winners and avoiding the costly hitting errors that sunk Nadal’s title defense.
The win also means Roger Federer will return to World No 1 when the ATP Rankings are released on Monday.