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The Austrian will face either world number two Novak Djokovic
or Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, whose quarter-final was
suspended till Saturday after rain halted play with the Serb
leading del Potro 6-1 1-2.
Beaten twice by Nadal in the space of a month, in the Barcelona
and Madrid Open finals, Thiem took his revenge by handing the
30-year-old Spaniard a first clay court defeat of the season in
Rome.
The upset, after one hour and 51 minutes, ended Nadal's 17-match
unbeaten run on clay.
The aggressive eighth seed had Nadal rattled from the start and
broke the Spaniard in the first and fifth games to go 5-1 up
before Nadal fought back to 5-4.
Thiem then broke for a 4-3 lead in the second set with
successive backhand and forehand winners and held on to leave
Nadal serving in vain to stay in the match. The Austrian
clinched victory on his first matchpoint as Nadal hit wide.
The Spaniard will now focus on the French Open, where he will be
aiming for a 10th title at Roland Garros.
Despite the loss to Thiem, Nadal's current form makes him the
favorite heading into the second Grand Slam of the year.
“I’m very happy with how I played during these four weeks and
now remains Roland Garros,” said Nadal.
Rising German star Alexander Zverev earlier reached the
semi-finals with a 7-6(4) 6-1 defeat of world number six Milos
Raonic.
Zverev, 20, will face John Isner for a place in the final after
the American beat Croatian Marin Cilic 7-6(3) 2-6 7-6(2).
"It's another stepping stone in my career," Zverev told the
ATP's website. "I feel like I have played very well today. I
returned very well.
"So I'm happy to be in the semis and playing John tomorrow, who
I know very well from our Saddlebrook (Florida) days. It's going
to be a great match."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman/Alan Baldwin/Larry Fine; editing by
John Stonestreet/Pritha Sarkar)
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