Dominic Thiem ends Rafael Nadal's 17-match winning run

Rafael Nadal has fallen short in his attempt to win the Italian Open for an eighth time after losing 6-4 6-3 to Dominic Thiem in Rome.

The fourth seed went down in straight sets on Friday afternoon to end his recent winning run, which had seen him win all 17 matches on clay this year.

Thiem started the match strongly by earning breaks in the first game and the fifth and, despite Nadal digging deep to claw it back to 5-4, the Austrian managed to get over the line.

Having previously suffered defeats to the same opponent in the Barcelona Open and Madrid Open finals, Thiem perhaps had revenge on the mind and he was well on top in the Italian capital.

Both players held for the first six games of the second set, but eighth seed Thiem broke his opponent twice in succession to make it through to the last four, where he will face Novak Djokovic or Juan Martin del Potro.