Eighth seed Dominic Thiem takes on unseeded Uruguayan player Pablo Cuevas in the Men's singles semi-final of 2017 Madrid Open on Saturday.
The world number nine decimated Andy Murray-slayer Borna Coric 6-1, 6-4 in his quarter-final outing on Friday to make the progress while Cuevas came back from behind to beat in-form Alexander Zverev 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 to enter his maiden Masters 1000 semi-final.
With a maiden Masters 1000 final berth and a clash against either Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic awaiting the two players, today's semi-final is expected to be hard-fought affair. Both players have had a good run on the red dit this season and thus, there is very little to separate the two on paper.
Thiem though will be high on confidence as he is heading into the match on the back of finishing as runner-up at last month's Barcelona Open, in which he stunned world number one Murray enroute to the title match. Thiem started his season on clay by racing to title at Rio de Janeiro after which he switched back to hard courts, reaching quarter-final at Acapulco and Indian Wells.
Cuevas had a rough start to his clay season with first-round exits at Buenos Aires and Rio, but came back strongly with a title at Sao Paulo. Having beaten Thiem in their only meeting on clay - French Open 2015, the Uruguayan will be motivated to achieve another positive result when he steps on the court later today.
