to the semifinals where she'll take on garbine muguruza. and who can stop liverpool? no—one, it seems — they go 19 points clear in the english premier league, after victory over strugglers west ham. hello, and welcome to the programme. let's start with that stunning upset in the men's quarter finals at the australian open. the top seed rafa nadal is out — beaten by dominic thiem, in four sets. the austrian reaching a first semifinal in melbourne and gaining revenge somewhat for defeat to nadal, in last year's french open final. nadal‘s chase for that record—equalling 20th grand slam goes on — as austin halewood reports. it's been 11 years since raphel found a dull one here. traditionally

a clay—court player, never beaten rafa nadal before that right from the off, something seemed different. he was being out played an unusually, outgunned. we might see a few more shots in this match which are as good as that but none better, surely. dominic thiem the first to set in the tie—break and the onslaught continued. thiem's game one point and the dial rattle. time violation didn't help. you don't like good tennis. but after thiem took the second, nadal rallied. showing his best, in that mood, he is unplayable. thiem has been here before, taking sets of nadal but never beating him on a grand slam. still he pushed on. nadal forster tie—break but finally at the third time of asking thiem won it, the world number one beaten and heading home. finally, this might be dominic thiem's time.

we already had this epic match in new york two years ago and today, i had a really good feeling that i was lucky in the right situation, it was on my side. it's necessary because if obviously is one of the greatest of all time, the legends, this sport has ever had so you need some luck to beat him. it is very quick and with these heavy balls, it's difficult to sometimes produce winners and he has a lot of powers so he is able to produce these shots. nothing to say. of course, i am sad. i lost an opportunity to be in the semifinals ofa grand opportunity to be in the semifinals of a grand slam but i lost against a great opponent and well done to him. thiem will now face germany's alexander zverev in the semi—finals. the number 7 seed came from a set down, to beat the 2014 champion stan wawrinka in four sets and reach the last four of a grand slam for the first time in his career. he also restated his promise to donate his prize money from the tournament

to the australian bushfires appeal. this earlier on dayio, simona halep and garbine muguruza this both made it through to the semi—finals of the women's singles — both winning in straight sets. halep, the number 4 seed, enjoyed a comfortable win against anett kontaveit. the reigning wimbledon champion thrashed the number 28 seed from estonia 6—1, 6—1 injust 53 minutes. halep — who hasn't dropped a set at this year's championships — is through to her second australian open semi—final. perfection doesn't exist but i'm very happy with the way i played. perfection doesn't exist but i'm very happy with the way i playedli felt very happy with the way i played.” felt great on court, i was moving great and i felt the ball really, really good. it was a great match. meanwhile, garbine muguruza's return to form continues. the former world number one — who's unseeded at this year's championships — beat russia's anastasia pavlyuchenkova 7—5, 6—3, to reach the last four.

she's now through to a grand slam semi—final for the first time in two years — and for only the second time since winning wimbledon in 2017. garbine muguruza and simona halep will meet in the second semi—final on thursday. before that, the top seed and home favourite ashleigh barty plays the american sofia kenin. and later — under the lights on rod laver arena — it's the first of the men's semi—finals, between roger federer and the defending champion novak djokovic. on to football — liverpool are now 19 points clear at the top of the english premier league, after winning 2—nil at west ham on wednesday. jurgen klopp's side have now gone 41 league games without defeat — stretching back to last january. alastair bruce—ball was watching. liverpool nowhere near their best but still too good for west ham. took the lead ten minutes before halftime. the referee pointed to the

spot and salah tucked away. the next goal on the counter—attack as west ham were threatening from a corner. they are the best team in the premier league by a country mile and it's not going to be too long i don't think until they clench this premier league title. 2—0 liverpool. we just have to carry on, we will carry on and 70 things can happen at last. stop it's interesting, it can catch over there but it's just not decided and that's why we don't feel like it's already done. nobody stands there, it's played that game and after the game, it's like, take and after the game, it's like, take a deep earth, saturday, southampton, that's how it is. manchester city are unlikely to hang on to their league title — but they're on course to retain the league cup. they're through to the final to face aston villa —

despite losing at home to manchester united in the 2nd leg of their semi—final on wednesday. ian dennis reports. manchester city are back at wembley but in reality their passages should have been passed far easier. too early saves and another in a second—half for a from walker. city also had two goals disallowed while they were guilty of wasted opportunities. stirling and david silver who passed rather than shoot. united rarely troubled bravo bittersweet strike from matic gave them hope. he was sent off 14 minutes from the end and harder for united. city lost the second leg and deserved to go through better only the third team to reach three successive league finals in a row. it was good we could sit as usual, so it was good we could sit as usual, so if you, so the ball was in centrepiece but the first time they should on target and the second half they should once, no more than that but i'm really pleased for them.

this 100 minutes we played, in both games were better. i'm pleased, very pleased to be of course again three yea rs pleased to be of course again three years ina pleased to be of course again three years in a row in this final. i want to talk about the players in the attitude they are showing and how far they've gone. they've come here now twice in six weeks and beat manchester city which is difficult enoughin manchester city which is difficult enough in ten years, to beat them twice. we beat them twice in six weeks. fantastic attitude, they give us weeks. fantastic attitude, they give us absolutely everything. in italy, inter milan are through to the semi—finals of the coppa italia. they beat fiorentina 2—1. nicolo barella got the winner midway through the second half. inter will be at home to napoli in the last four. in spain, the holders valencia are through to the quarter—finals of the copa del rey but they needed extra—time and penalties to see off 3rd tier side leonesa. elsewhere, real madrid thrashed zaragoza a—nil — to reach the last eight. there were also wins for granada, villarreal and real sociedad. one other football

line to bring you — canada's christine sinclair has beaten the goalscoring record for both women's and mens international football. she scored twice in canada's 11—nil win over st. kitts and nevis in their olympic qualifier in texas. sinclair now moves ahead of abby wambach of the us, on 185 goals. new zealand's cricketers experienced an unwanted feeling of "deja vu" on wednesday. six months after losing the world cup final against england in a super over, they lost the 3rd t20 international against india the same way. the two sides were tied after 20 overs each — with kane williamson's 95 for the black caps helping new zealand to match india's total of 179. in the super over that followed, the home side made 17 for nought from their 6 balls, which india bettered — with rohit sharma scoring 15 of their 20 runs as the tourists took an unbeatable 3—nil lead in the four—match series. it was good fun to be out there in

the middle. this is my first super bowl i batted but i have been part of it before but the first time i batted so i had no idea whether to ta ke batted so i had no idea whether to take a single first balljust go for it but in the end it was a good result for us. i feel for new zealand, they played really good cricket. to be on the losing side for them, i know how disappointed it will be for them. elsewhere, zimbabwe have a lead of 175 runs over sri lanka, as they look to level their two—test series in harare. they'll start the fourth day on 62 for 1. this after sikander raza recorded the second—best bowling figures in a test for a zimbabwean, taking seven sri lankan wickets. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye.

hello. we started off this week with a wintry flavour, cold or all of us. but wednesday brought a day of contrast. it was a glorious afternoon across much of england and wales with some sunshine coming through, as you can see in bedford, and a little milder with it. different story further north as was awesome evie, persistent rain. some areas of scotland seeing over a couple of inches in a 24—hour period. that weather front continues to drift its way steadily north. we've got a weaker area of low pressure pushing its way in from the south—west. but one unifying factor as we move into thursday and friday is a south—westerly flow will drive mild air right across the country. so wednesday morning, we saw temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. but thursday morning, when it really looks as though it will be a different story, we're going to start of mild, 7 or 8 degrees widely across the country.

so yes, it's a mild start, but rather cloudy, grey, drab one, unfortunately. there will be some rain, some heavier and persistent, moving through western scotland to the north. and then behind it with quite a lot of cloud, thick enough for the odd spot or two drizzle, like patchy rain, misty, murky weather conditions, maybe some dense fog lingering in the far south—west. lighter winds to the south, but always strongest the further north and west with that rain. but look at this. these temperatures widely double digits. 10—14 degrees our afternoon highs. as we move out of thursday into friday, unfortunately, yet again, there's another frontal system that is going to push in from the west and that's going to bring more wet weather with it. now, the heaviest of the rain is likely to be through western areas for a time on wednesday. and as it pushes its way steadily eastwards, it'll weaken, fragment to showers into the afternoon. but we are likely to see more persistent rain just clinging onto the north—west of the great glen, however

the wind direction is still a south—westerly, still mild for all, 8—11; the high. as we move out of friday, for the start of the weekend, unfortunately it looks as they we're stuck in repeat. low pressure never too far away, but weather fronts crossing the uk, they either way, a brief respite before the next weather front which is in. so it does look likely that it is going to stay pretty u nsettled. city forecast for both saturday and sunday. showers or longer spells of rain, but still on the mild side for this time of year, temperatures widely into double figures. take care.

welcome to bbc news — i'm mike embley. our top stories: blockades and barriers — china's villages try to keep out strangers and coronavirus. president trump accuses his former national security advisor of betrayal — and the white house warns him not to publish his book. fraternal singing from some, flag waving from others. brexit clears its final legal hurdle in the european parliament. the sun as it's never been seen before. we'll talk to one of the scientists behind these new high resolution images of its surface.