It was a very even match between the two gravel specialists, who met in the final of the French championships in the last two years.

But in the decisive positions, the fifth-seeded Thiem was strongest. He won the first two sets in tiebreak. Nadal took the third with 6-4 before even the fourth set went to tiebreak. And finally, after four hours and ten minutes, the Austrian was able to secure the victory after 8–6 in tiebreak.

Thiem will now face a semi-final against German Alexander Zverev.

For Thiem, 26, this is the first time he has gone far in the Australian Open. He has now met Nadal 15 times and won five. Five times before he lost to Nadal in grand slam matches.

Nadal has only won the Australian Open once before, 2009. He was in the final of the tournament last year, where Novak Djokovic became too difficult.

Thiem's ​​semifinal opponent Alexander Zverev was ready for his first grand slam semifinal of his career after knocking out Swiss star Stan Wawrinka.

SEE MORE: Here Nadal knocks the next ball girl - comforts with puss

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser. We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.

Learn more about browser support

Javascript is turned off

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Learn more about browser support