New Delhi: Top seed Rafael Nadal was stunned by fifth seed Dominic Theim in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Wednesday. The 2009 Australian Open champion was beaten by the rising Austrian star in four tightly contested sets with the scoreline reading 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(6).

Theim beat Nadal for the first time in a grand slam after losing to the Spaniard twice in the French Open final. Nadal is still 9-5 against Thiem, but this was the Austrian’s first win against the Spanish legend in a Grand Slam event.


Nadal, 33, with 19 career major titles was bidding to equal Roger Federer atop the all-time men’s grand slam list with 20, but will now have to wait until the French Open to do so. Nadal lost to Novak Djokovic in last year's final in straight sets.

No. 5 Thiem made to his first Australian Open semifinal where he will take on No. 7 Alexander Zverev after the hard hitting German beat No. 15 Stan Wawrinka, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to his first major semifinal. Either Zverev, 23, or Thiem, 26, will advance to his first Australian Open final.

Meanwhile Novak Djokovic will take on his arch rival Roger Federer in the first semifinal of the men's singles at the Australian Open. If Djokovic goes on to win his eighth Australian Open title, he will retake the world No. 1 ranking from Nadal.

The “Big Three” of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have won the last 12 Grand Slam titles dating to the 2016 U.S. Open, so if Thiem or Zverev goes on to win that streak would end.