Milos Raonic upset by 16-seed at Italian Open

Milos Raonic was ousted from the Italian Open after falling to 16th-seeded German Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals Friday morning in Rome.

Zverev had no trouble with the Thornhill, Ont., native in his 7-6(4), 6-1 victory. It was their first match against each other.

Zverev will take on American John Isner in the semifinals.

Raonic now awaits the French Open, which begins May 28.

Nadal loses

Rafael Nadal's winning streak ended at 17 matches as he lost in straight sets to Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open on Friday.

The 6-4, 6-3 victory was a sort of revenge for Thiem, who was beaten by the Spaniard in the Madrid Open final last week.

"Of course I came in with a very aggressive game style, because I knew that if I want to have a chance, then I have to do something different and be more aggressive," Thiem said. "I knew that if it goes in, everything, maybe I have a chance. If not, maybe I also lose easy.

The 30-year-old Nadal, who was seeded fourth, had won consecutive clay-court tournaments in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid and was aiming for an eighth title at the Foro Italico as he prepares for the French Open in less than two weeks.

Thiem, the No.8 seed, will face four-time champion Novak Djokovic or Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals.

The other semifinal pits John Isner against Zverev.

The unseeded Isner, who hit 21 aces, beat sixth-seeded Marin Cilic 7-6 (3), 2-6, 7-6 (2) in a serve-dominated quarterfinal to become the first American to reach the last four at the Italian Open since Andy Roddick in 2008.

In the women's draw, second-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic lost 6-3, 7-6 (9) to No.8 seed Elina Svitolina.