Rafa Nadal suffered a stun 7-5 6-3 crush by Austrian Dominic Thiem in the Madrid Open quarter-finals on Friday, a result that means the Spaniard will drop the world number one ranking.

Nadal had made a record of winning 50 consecutive sets on a single surface by defeating Argentine Diego Schwartzman on Thursday.

Thiem, who defeated Nadal in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals last month, was the last player to crush the Spaniard on soil at last year's Rome Masters.

Nadal's drop from World No. 1 ranking means Roger Federer will regain the number one spot when the revised ATP rankings are released on Monday.

Thiem stuck to the baseline and took his ground strokes early to upset Nadal, who was oddly below par in the opening set on his favorite surface, making a number of unforced errors.

Although the 24-year-old Austrian was unsuccessful to convert a set point in the ninth game, he jumped out at the second time of asking to seal the first set with an ace.

On related note In the Madrid semi-finals on Saturday, Thiem will face big-serving South African Kevin Anderson, who has defeated the Austrian in their last six encounters. Sixth seed Anderson was runner-up at last year's U.S. Open. He beat Serb Dusan Lajovic 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3 earlier on Friday.