The young lions roared loudly in Rome on Friday as first Alexander Zverev put Milos Roanic out of the Italian Open and then Dominic Thiem pulled off the shock of the clay season, stopping Rafael Nadal’s victory roll at 17 with the French Open nine days away.

Nadal, who turns 31 in Paris, has been irresistible since stepping back on to his favourite surface in Monte Carlo, where he won his 10th title on the Riviera, repeating the feat in Barcelona, winning his seventh in Madrid – against Thiem – on Sunday and was steadily working his way towards an eighth trophy here when the Austrian rose to the occasion after two straight defeats by the Spaniard. Nadal is still favourite to win at Roland Garros but he needs no reminding it is not a foregone conclusion.

The Austrian hit without fear to both corners and Nadal struggled to stay in the exchanges for long periods when he was stuck way behind the baseline. He fell 1-5 down before fighting back in the first set, then cracked to trail 3-4 in the second. Serving to stay in the tournament, he pumped a final tired forehand just wide and the Campo Centrale rose as one to celebrate another fine victory, 6-4, 6-3, for one of the game’s rising stars.

Nadal said later: “He was very aggressive, very strong. He played very well, didn’t miss much and was able to push me back.”

“That was a really special performance,” the former British No1 Annabel Croft said courtside. “He came out of the blocks so quickly, playing with such freedom. It was absolutely mesmerising to watch.”

The world No7 is flying as he enters the semi-finals where he plays John Isner, who ground down Marin Cilic over 2hr 37min to win 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 7-6 (7-2). Zverev was nearly as impressive on the same court a few hours earlier, bossing the Canadian fifth seed, Raonic, in the hour and a half it lasted. The early rallies were close but the German – tipped by Fabio Fognini to be world No1 one day after he had put Andy Murray out on Tuesday night – pulled away with ease at the finish to win 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

Novak Djokovic and Juan Martín del Potro’s quarter-final match was suspended on Friday due to rain and lightning with Djokovic serving at 6-1, 6-2. Play will resume at 12.30pm local time on Saturday.

Maria Sharapova said she will not disturb the equilibrium at the All England Club by applying for a wild card into the main draw – as good a pre-emptive strike as Napoleon might have conjured.

While she has accepted an invitation to play in the Birmingham tournament which starts on 19 June and had made the cut by right into the qualifiers for Wimbledon a week later, she will have suspected that her chances of being ushered back to the scene of her first grand slam triumph without hitting a ball were on a par with getting an invite to the christening of Serena Williams’s first child.

“A few months ago I received a wild card offer from Birmingham,” the Russian said on her website, “[which was] one of my most memorable tournaments as a young player. I am so grateful and excited to be playing the event again! Because of my improved ranking after the first three tournaments of my return, I will also be playing the qualifying of Wimbledon in Roehampton and will not be requesting a wild card into the main draw.”

Her comeback from a 15-month suspension for failing a drugs test, which began amid locker room disgruntlement at Stuttgart last month, faltered in Rome on Tuesday night when her tight left thigh forced her to quit when she was leading in the third set against the Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.