Nadal had not surrendered a set on clay since his loss to Thiem at the Internazionali d’Italia last May and the Austrian proved his undoing again in the Spanish capital.
The defeat means Nadal – who surpassed John McEnroe’s Open Era record of 49 straight sets won on the same surface, which he registered on carpet in 1984 – will also lose his world number one ranking to Roger Federer.
Here we look back at King of Clay’s stunning streak, which included a 10th French Open win and 11th titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, on the red dirt.
2017 French Open:Benoit Paire 6-1 6-4 6-1Robin Haase 6-1 6-4 6-3Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-0 6-1 6-0Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1 6-2 6-2Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2 2-0 (RET)Dominic Thiem 6-3 6-4 6-0Stan Wawrinka 6-2 6-3 6-1
2018 Davis Cup:Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2 6-2 6-3Alexander Zverev 6-1 6-4 6-4
2018 Monte Carlo Masters:
Aljaz Bedene 6-1 6-3Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-2Dominic Thiem 6-0 6-2Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-1Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-2
2018 Barcelona Open:
Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4 6-4Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1 6-3Martin Klizan 6-0 7-5David Goffin 6-4 6-0Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 6-1
2018 Madrid Open:
Gael Monfils 6-3 6-1Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-4
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