Nadal's magical clay court streak ended by Thiem in Madrid

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AFP Madrid
Last Updated : May 12 2018 | 10:00 AM IST

Rafael Nadal suffered his first clay-court defeat in almost a year when the world number one was shocked 7-5, 6-3 by Austria's Dominic Thiem in the Madrid Masters quarter-finals.

Defending champion Nadal, who came into the tournament having won both Monte Carlo and Barcelona for an 11th time, also saw his record 50-set winning streak on clay ended by the fifth-seeded Thiem.

Thiem, the runner-up to the great Spaniard in the 2017 Madrid final, had been the last player to defeat Nadal on clay at the 2017 Italian Open in Rome -- 357 days ago.

The shock result also means that Roger Federer will reclaim the world number one ranking on Monday.

"A player like Dominic has a lot of potential. Whenever he plays really well, it's very difficult to stop him," admitted Nadal.

"He played well and I didn't play well. We're not playing a game where the differences are big or massive. The differences are very small."
- 'He killed me in Monaco' -
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"Two weeks ago in Monte Carlo, he killed me love and two. It was very important I went in with a positive attitude, with an attitude to win. I should go into every match like this against him."

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First Published: May 12 2018 | 10:00 AM IST

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