The world tennis number two Rafael Nadal has crashed to his first loss on clay in 23 matches, toppled by his Davis Cup teammate Fernando Verdasco 6-3 3-6 7-5 in a thrilling third round match at the Madrid Open.
Nadal had beaten the 15-seeded Verdasco in all 13 of their previous meetings, but an error-strewn performance ended his bid for a third straight clay title this season and deprived him of a chance to avenge his defeat to Novak Djokovic in last year's final.
Verdasco broke Nadal's serve seven times and clubbed 31 winners to Nadal's 19, and he won the match from 2-5 down in the deciding set.
In another mens upset the Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgolpolov beat thed 4th sdeed Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets.
In the womens draw the former world number one Serena Williams set up a quarter-final meeting with Maria Sharapova with a win over the sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki 1-6 6-3 6-2.
