Barcelona Open: Rafael Nadal faces Dominic Thiem for final spot

World number two Rafael Nadal will look to book his place in the finals of the Barcelona Open when he squares off with third-seed Dominic Thiem of Austria in the last-four clash of the tournament on Saturday.  

The 25-year-old Spaniard stormed into the semi-finals of the men's singles event with a hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 win over Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in a round-of-eight that lasted one hour and 43 minutes.

Nadal is now all set to meet 2017 finalist Thiem, who had a comfortable passage into the last-four of the tournament with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Argentina's Guido Pella. 

Heading into the 12th meeting between the duo, Nadal leads the Head-to-Head rivalry against Thiem by 8-3.

Notably, Nadal has also never lost a semi-final match in Barcelona and is heading for his record 12th title in this tournament this week.

Thiem, on the other hand, is looking to become only the second player after Novak Djokovic to have defeated the Spaniard four times on clay.