Barcelona Open: Rafael Nadal denied ATP record by Dominic

Thiem
 56 minutes ago
 From the sectionTennis

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Nadal had been hoping to win the event for a 12th time

Rafael Nadal's hopes of extending his own record by winning an ATP tournament for
the 12th time were ended when he was beaten by Dominic Thiem in the Barcelona
Open semi-finals.

Nadal has triumphed in Barcelona 11 times, a mark he has also hit at the French Open and
Monte Carlo Masters.

But his hopes of adding to his record ended in a 6-4 6-4 loss to Thiem, who he beat in the
2017 Barcelona final.

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The Austrian will meet 23-year-old Daniil Medvedev in Sunday's final.

Had Nadal won against Thiem he would have had the opportunity to match Martina
Navratilova's professional tournament record of winning 12 times at the now-defunct Avon
Championships of Chicago.
The 32-year-old had appeared on course to win the Barcelona Open for the fourth time in
succession - he went into the match having won 46 of the 47 sets he had played in the
tournament's final two rounds.

Instead 25-year-old Thiem, who lost to Nadal in a one-sided French Open final last year,
will have the opportunity to win a second title of the year having beaten Roger Federer in
the final at Indian Wells last month.

Russian Medvedev beat fourth seed Kei Nishikori 6-4 3-6 7-5 in their semi-final on
Saturday