Novak Djokovic is disappointed to lose his title at the Mutua Madrid Open, but was full of praise for Rafael Nadal after their semi-final match on Saturday.

The Serbian went in with a seven-match win streak against the Spaniard, but struggled to find answers to Nadal’s powerful baseline hitting in their 50^th FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Djokovic admitted afterwards that it would have been difficult to oust Nadal even if he were in peak form.

“Rafa was obviously a better player today. He deserved to win. He was controlling the game from beginning to the end,” said Djokovic. “His quality was very high and he managed to do whatever he wanted, especially in the first set. He did get the better of me in most of the stats today, most of the shots.”

However, the second seed didn’t mince words about his own performance. He hit 13 unforced errors in the opening set and often sprayed standard rally shots into the net or long. Although his effort never betrayed him, Djokovic said his game often did today.

“I tried my best. It wasn’t a very high quality of tennis from my side. I made a lot of unforced errors, especially in the first set, said Djokovic, “I felt like I was playing well throughout the week. I could have played better today. But, again, I just had an opponent that was too good. It’s just one of these days where your opponent is playing better than you, and you have to be able to say “congratulations” and move on.

But despite the loss, Djokovic said there are positives to take as he heads to Rome for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where he has won four times (2008, 2011, 2014-2015) and finished runner-up three times (2009, 2012, 2016). The World No. 2 reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final and faced a player inside the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time since his opening event of the season in Doha. He believes having those experiences again will serve him well as he looks ahead to another difficult draw.

“It was really good to play in the semi-finals of a big event and to play against one of my top rivals. I haven’t had that feeling in months, so it’s great to feel that,” said Djokovic. “It was a positive week and a positive experience. I take more positives than negatives going into next week in Rome. As I go along, I hope to continue getting better and getting stronger.”

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following match-ups on Saturday at the Mutua Madrid Open & vote for who you think will win! 
Djokovic v Nadal | Thiem v Cuevas

The Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal rivalry becomes the first in the Open Era to reach 50 matches when the living legends meet in the Mutua Madrid Open semi-finals on Saturday. Djokovic is 26-23 against Nadal, with win streaks of seven matches and 15 sets. Nadal has not taken a set off of Djokovic since the 2014 Roland Garros final, when the Spaniard secured his ninth title in Paris.

Nadal is the greatest clay-court player of the Open Era with a 378-34 record on the surface (.917). However, he’s lost his last three matches and is 14-7 overall against Djokovic on clay (.667). No other player owns more than three clay-court wins over Nadal. Gaston Gaudio defeated Nadal three times on clay before the Spaniard turned 19 and won his first Roland Garros title in 2005.

Djokovic is in the midst of his second seven-match win streak against Nadal, sweeping seven straight finals from 2011 Indian Wells through the 2012 Australian Open. The No. 2 and No. 4 seeds have split two prior match-ups in Madrid and 16 prior semi-finals. They have met at all four Grand Slams, the ATP Finals, the Olympics, Davis Cup, and eight of the nine ATP Masters 1000 events (not Shanghai). Djokovic is 16-9 with five straight wins over Nadal at ATP Masters 1000s.

Nadal and Djokovic last met exactly one year ago on May 13, 2016, when the Serbian scored a 7-5, 7-6(4) quarter-final win in Rome. This is the longest gap between meetings since their rivalry was born on June 7, 2006, with a Nadal victory in the Roland Garros quarter-finals. Nadal won 14 of their first 18 meetings, culminating in a four-hour, three-minute triumph in the 2009 Madrid semi-finals. Djokovic, however, has claimed 11 of their last 12 meetings since losing in the 2013 US Open final.

First-time ATP Masters 1000 semi-finalists Dominic Thiem and Pablo Cuevas will play for a spot opposite Djokovic or Nadal in Sunday’s final. In their only previous match-up, Cuevas edged Thiem 7-6(7), 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5 after three hours and 51 minutes at 2015 Roland Garros. The eighth-seeded Thiem overcame an 0-4 record in ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finals to beat Borna Coric on Friday.

Cuevas has earned three-set wins over unseeded opponents in all four of his matches this week. The 27th-ranked Cuevas is unseeded as well and trying to tie John Isner at 2016 Paris as the lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 finalist since No. 29 Gilles Simon at 2014 Shanghai. He would be the lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 champion since No. 50 Tomas Berdych at 2005 Paris.

MOST MEETINGS IN OPEN ERA

Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal 50 Djokovic Leads 26-23

Novak Djokovic vs Roger Federer 45 Djokovic Leads 23-22

Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal 37 Nadal Leads 23-14

Novak Djokovic vs Andy Murray 36 Djokovic Leads 25-11

Ivan Lendl vs John McEnroe 36 Lendl Leads 21-15

View Saturday Schedule

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will both be looking to prove a point on Saturday when they meet for the 50th time in the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open.

While Djokovic leads 26-23 in their legendary FedEx ATP Head2Head series, the Serbian is searching for a return to the peak of his powers after a slow start to 2017. His last semi-final appearance came in January when he captured the Qatar ExxonMobil Open title, the 67th of his career. 

In contrast, Nadal is looking like the man to beat once again on European clay, having picked up his 10th title at both the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. He leads the ATP World Tour with 32 match wins in 2017 and has an Open Era record 51 clay crowns.

Yet, the Spaniard has lost his past seven matches – and 15 straight sets – against Djokovic since lifting his ninth trophy at Roland Garros in the 2014 final. The numbers indicate that Djokovic has a mental edge, including a 16-9 record over Nadal in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 matches, three straight clay-court wins (7-14 overall) and three consecutive semi-final victories (8-8).

But in the past five months, Nadal’s game has evolved and his forehand and service confidence have returned. While Djokovic also won seven straight matches against Nadal from the 2011 BNP Paribas Open to the 2012 Australian Open finals, he recently parted company with three long-time members of his support team, including Marian Vajda.

In their first clash for 12 months (since the 2016 Internazionali BNL d’Italia), Saturday’s semi-final will be a must-see for tennis fans.

In their two previous Madrid clashes, Nadal saved three match points in a third set tie-break victory for a place in the 2009 final, while Djokovic captured his first clay-court win over the Spaniard in the 2011 final. Nadal is a four-time champion at the Caja Magica, while Djokovic is the defending champion (also 2011 titlist).

PERIODS OF DOMINANCE: NOVAK & RAFA’S RIVALRY

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Dominic Thiem is riding high at the Mutua Madrid Open. Just 24 hours after saving five match points to defeat Grigor Dimitrov in the third round, the eighth seed put in a nearly flawless performance to reach the semi-finals over lucky loser and #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric 6-1, 6-4.

“It means a lot because this is a place with great memories for me. It’s where I had my first win over a Top 10 guy and now my first Masters 1000 semi-final is here,” said Thiem. “I was hoping for these results to come, but these tournaments are really strong, so it’s a great achievement.”

The victory puts Thiem in his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final after going 0-4 in his previous quarter-final appearances. He also evens his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Coric at 1-1, gaining revenge from a loss this year at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The Austrian’s outstanding run on clay this year began in February by taking the title in Rio de Janeiro (d. Carreno Busta), followed by a runner-up showing last week in Barcelona (l. Nadal). Thiem also scored his first victory over a World No. 1 in Barcelona by ousting Andy Murray in the semi-finals.

Next up for Thiem is Pablo Cuevas, who defeated #NextGenATP German Alexander Zverev earlier in the day. Cuevas leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry over Thiem 1-0, but they haven’t played in two years.

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 Watch Full Match Replays

Despite the loss, Coric has plenty of positives to take from this week. He became the first lucky loser to reach the quarter-finals in Madrid’s tournament history, recording the biggest win of his career by defeating Murray in the third round. The Croatian also matched his best result at a Masters 1000 event (2016 Cincinnati). Coric has excelled on clay this year, winning his first ATP World Tour title last month in Marrakech by saving five match points in the final against Philipp Kohlschreiber. 

Thiem was almost perfect in the opening set, hitting 10 winners to just a single unforced error. He dropped only three points on serve, all of which came in the fifth game, and went on a five-game run to grab the early advantage.

Coric put up more resistance in the second set, but the on-court time of six matches in seven days appeared to take their toll on the Croatian. He took a brief medical timeout up 2-1 in the second set to have his right arm worked on. The lengthy game at 3-3 proved to be critical, with Thiem securing the lone break of the set with yet another forehand winner. The Austrian maintained his slight advantage the rest of the way to wrap up the win in 79 minutes.

Top seed Andy Murray could face another early challenge from a #NextGenATP star at next week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia. After falling to 20-year-old Croatian Borna Coric in Madrid this week, Murray is seeded to meet in-form German Alexander Zverev, the leader of the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, in the third round.

The Rome draw has also thrown up brutal first-round clashes: Juan Martin del Potro, playing just his second match of the clay season, faces 10^th seed Grigor Dimitrov. Nick Kyrgios and Roberto Bautista Agut, the two highest-ranked players not to be seeded, will do battle. And 39-year-old Tommy Haas plays 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic in the oldest-combined match since Vina del Mar in 1982, when Ricardo Cano (30) defeated Luis Ayala (49).

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Murray is in no danger losing his hold on World No. 1 next week but he is defending 1000 points for winning the Rome title last year and soon after will defend 1,200 points for reaching the Roland Garros final last year. (During the grass swing he will defend 2,500 points for his victories last year at Queen’s and Wimbledon.)

Murray routed Zverev 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in their only meeting, at the Australian Open in 2016. But Zverev has evolved into one of the game’s hottest young stars and is being touted as a future No. 1. This year he has a 21-9 match record, including titles in Munich and Montpellier.

For the third straight clay-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have been drawn in the same half. But second-seeded Djokovic, last year’s finalist, could face a very tough third-round match.

Vying for the chance to play Djokovic are 15^th seed Pablo Carreno Busta and Gilles Simon, who meet in the first round. The winner of that plays the winner of Bautista Agut and Kyrgios, the Aussie powerhouse who beat Djokovic in back-to-back tournaments this year in Acapulco and Indian Wells.

Third seed Stan Wawrinka, chasing just his second match win of the clay swing, will open against the winner of Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Benoit Paire, who upset the Swiss in the second round of Madrid this week.

Fourth-seeded Nadal will play the winner of Italian Andreas Seppi and a qualifier in the second round after enjoying an opening-round bye.

Main-draw play in Rome begins Sunday.