Dominic Thiem saved three break points in the final game to deliver a 6-4, 6-4 upset of 11-time champion Rafael Nadal and reach the final of the Barcelona Open on Saturday.

The Austrian, who lost the Roland Garros final to the Spanish great last year, denied Nadal the opportunity to become the first man to capture the same ATP title 12 times.

Thiem on Sunday will face Daniil Medvedev, a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 winner over two-time tournament winner Kei Nishikori.

"Things were positive even if I lost. Congrats to him, he's a great guy and a great player," said top seed Nadal who was a semi-final loser last week to Fabio Fognini in Monte Carlo where he was also an 11-time champion.

"Today I played at a good level, it was a great improvement on last week, when I was not competitive at all," added 32-year-old Nadal, who had never before lost a Barcelona semi-final, with just four weeks to go until the start of Roland Garros, where he is the defending champion.

Thiem joins Novak Djokovic as the only player to have defeated Nadal four times on clay after Buenos Aires in 2016, Rome in 2017 and last year in the Madrid quarter-finals.

(With inputs from AFP and Reuters)