Nadal loses to Ferrero on clay in Rome

By Sports Network

- The Sports Network

For only the second time in his last 105 matches on clay, Rafael Nadal came up a loser Wednesday at the $3.5 million Italian Masters, a French Open tune-up.

Former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero stunned his second-seeded fellow Spaniard Nadal 7-5, 6-1 in the second round on the dirt at Foro Italico.

Nadal, who was slowed by a blister problem on his right foot, hadn't lost on his beloved clay since giving way to top-ranked superstar Roger Federer in last May's finale at the Hamburg Masters and had won his last 17 matches at this particular venue.

Ferrero prevailed in 1 hour, 54 minutes with the help of three service breaks on Day 3, compared to zero breaks for the surprising loser Nadal, who was riding an 11-match overall winning streak, including 10 wins on clay.

"Juan Carlos is a very tough opponent, but certainly if you're not 100 percent at a Masters Series event, it is very tough," Nadal said. "I congratulate Juan Carlos, but today for sure was not my best tennis."

Nadal's last clay loss against a fellow Spaniard came back in 2004 and this also marked his first-ever opening loss in an ATP-level clay-court event, as the Mallorcan enjoyed a first-round bye this week.

The 21-year-old Nadal was the reigning three-time Rome champion and fresh off his fourth straight Barcelona championship last week. The three-time French Open champ and two-time Wimbledon finalist beat Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in last year's Rome finale and is still an amazing 103-2 in his last 105 matches on the dirt. The world No. 2 has won 117 of his last 121 matches on clay since 2005.

The former French Open champion Ferrero, unseeded this week, was the Rome champ back in 2001.

Third-seeded Australian Open champion and U.S. Open runner-up Novak Djokovic avoided an upset by handling Belgian Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-0, but other upsets came when Czech Radek Stepanek ran out fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 and Spanish clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro erased seventh- seeded Argentine star David Nalbandian 6-4, 7-5. Ferrer was last week's Barcelona runner-up to Nadal. Nalbandian was the 2004 runner-up here in Rome.

Fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko moved into the third round by dispatching Croatian wild card Mario Ancic 6-2, 6-2, while eighth-seeded American James Blake held off Italian crowd favorite Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-1.

A 12th-seeded Gonzalez stayed hot with a 6-3, 6-2 thrashing of Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev, while Russian slugger Igor Andreev dismissed 13th- seeded Argentine Juan Monaco 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 14th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo bested Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), and capable Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka drove out 16th-seeded Brit Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6 (7-5). Gonzalez is fresh off his clay-court title in Munich last week.

Additional second-round wins came for Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna, Italian Simone Bolelli, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic. Bolelli was last week's Munich runner-up to Gonzalez.

On Thursday, a top-seeded Federer will face Karlovic, Djokovic will take on Andreev, sixth-seeded Andy Roddick will encounter Bolelli and Blake will battle Verdasco in some third-round action. Federer was the Rome runner-up in 2003 and 2006.

This week's winner will take home $558,000.