Murray fails on clay again

World number one Andy Murray is having a miserable run on the clay and he can add Madrid to his list of places he'd rather not visit in 2017.

In attempting to advance to a quarter final, and avenge his Barcelona loss to Dominic Thiem, Murray lost to lucky loser in qualifying Borna Coric.

The 20 year old Croatian was too sharp for the Scot, his second serve far more successful in winning vital points.

Dropping serve only once in the match, Coric's 6-3 6-3 result was a surprise triumph.

Dominic Thiem will be Borna's quarter final opponent, following a high class match with Grigor Dimitrov.

12th seed Dimitrov opened in style, displaying all the form of earlier in the year.

Thiem fought to stay with the Bulgarian for the bulk of the first set and only relented in the final game to fall behind 4-6.

Dimitrov had the early break in set two but Thiem reversed the momentum and levelled the match at 4-6 6-4.

In the decider, Dimitrov once again looked the winner with a 4-2 lead.  However Thiem could not be denied.  Eventually a tie break was required and Dimitrov grabbed three match points at 6 / 3.

True to his resilience shown in the entire match, Dominic Thiem saved all those plus another two at 6 / 7 and 8 / 9 before winning the entertaining battle on his own second match point.

Rafa Nadal, one of the best, if not the best clay courter of all time, gave Nick Kyrgios a short and sweet exhibition why.

6-3 6-1 in just over an hour, winning 63% of all points, this was a perfect tune up for Nadal's quarter final clash with 9th seed David Goffin.

Goffin swept aside 5th seed Milos Raonic with relative ease 6-4 6-2.

The other quarter finals feature Pablo Cuevas v. fellow unseeded Alexander Zverev, and the best of the four - Novak Djokovic v Kei Nishikori.

Djokovic is the defending champion and defeated Nishikori in the 2016 semi finals.

The run of Genie Bouchard came to a resounding end with eighth seed Sveta Kuznetsova handing the outspoken Canadian a decent thrashing 6-4 6-0.

Sveta will face 14th seed Kristina Mladenovic in one semi final.

Mladenovic eliminated Sorana Cirstea in straight sets to reach the semi.

Third seed Simona Halep will play unseeded Anastasija Sevastova in the other semi final after they won quarter finals against Coco Vandeweghe and Kiki Bertens respectively.