Dominic Thiem has defeated Rafael Nadal in four sets at the Australian Open.

The Austrian secured an impressive 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 victory Down Under in the quarter-final, which will now see him face off against Alexander Zverev in the semis.

Although the main rivalry in tennis is and has been Nadal vs Roger Federer for a long time now, a new one has slowly started to emerge in Nadal vs Thiem.

The two have met in back-to-back French Open finals, with the Spaniard winning on both occasions in relatively easy fashion.

However, that wasn't the case today when they met in the quarter-final of the Australian Open.

The duo couldn't be separated in the first set, as they went all the way to a tiebreak, which the Austrian eventually won 7-3. This is despite the fact he was once 5-3 down in the set.

The second set went in similar fashion, with Thiem once again getting the job done in a tiebreak, this time wrapping it up 7-4.

It was clear that Nadal was frustrated, and he cut an agitated figure throughout the entirety of the match, getting into verbals with the chair umpire with regards to time taken between points.

However, he managed to compose himself in the third, breaking Thiem at the end to take the set 6-4.

That momentum didn't last long, however, as in the third game of the fourth set, the Austrian broke Nadal's serve, giving him a 2-1 lead early on. He then held his own serve on the back of that, extending his lead to 3-1.

And, although the world number one did break back later in the set to make it 5-5, that was all she wrote for Nadal and his time in the Australian Open, as Thiem eventually got over the line via a tiebreak, winning the deciding set 7-6.

Thiem will now take on Zverev in one semi-final, whilst the other semi sees veterans Federer and Novak Djokovic go to battle once more.