Thiem is the only player to defeat Nadal on clay this season and sealed a return to the last four in Paris with a sensational 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-0 upset of defending champion Novak Djokovic. Halep came all the way back from a set and 5-1 down in the second to defeat Elina Svitolina 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0.
Friday's other semi-final will pitch world number one Murray, the runner-up to Djokovic in 2016, against 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka.
"Trust me, I'm thinking about many things, you know, especially in the last couple months, " he said in response to my direct question in his news conference. At the same time, I have a responsibility to the game itself, toward others.
"Obviously he didn't want to give me too much information when the tournament started".
He allowed Djokovic just eight points in the third set - only the ninth 6-0 "bagel" the 12-time major victor has ever conceded.
"It is not something that hasn't happened before for a top player". The Austrian won the biggest match of his ascending career with a 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-0 quarterfinal takedown of Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic's resounding victory over Thiem in the Rome semifinals last month might have been misleading, since the 23-year-old Austrian was coming off an emotional victory over Nadal 24 hours earlier.
Nadal stayed on course to lift a record-extending 10th title at Roland Garros after his compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta withdrew from their quarter-final match with an abdominal injury, trailing 6-2 2-0.
"Obviously it's not an easy decision to make, but I will see how I feel, anyway, after Roland Garros and then decide what to do next". Switzerland's Wawrinka, Nadal and Thiem all progressed to the final four this year without dropping a set.
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Thiem took the opening set in a tiebreak after saving two set points at *4-5 down, and then carried the momentum going forward, taking the second set 6-3 before completely wiping the floor in the third to win it 6-0.
"It's a big challenge, but I'm up for it", he says.
Djokovic will have 5805 points on Monday, which is unofficially his lowest points total since June 2007.
In women's matches Wednesday, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova reached the semifinals.
While he has managed to perform well in the last few weeks, he remains far from his best and his inconsistency from one match to another is probably what is the most alarming.
Thiem downed Djokovic for his first win in six matches against the Serb and is through to just his second semi-final at a major. Nadal has has won 15 of his last 16 matches on clay court. I've said it before, Nadal is playing like peak Nadal at this very moment.
But Agassi left midway through the tournament due to what Djokovic had described as prior personal arrangements and the 30-year old from Belgrade was blown away by Thiem after beating Spaniard Albert Ramos Vinolas in his mentor's absence. "I am trying to work on the game, work on things and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't".
Svitolina would have been forgiven for being hugely emotional after letting a great opportunity to reach a first major semi-final pass her by.
"I think today I showed that I'm stronger mentally", Halep said after the match.
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