The King of Clay's preparations for a fourth consecutive French Open title suffered a setback Wednesday during the second round of the Rome Masters.
No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal was defeated on clay for only the second time in 105 matches, losing to countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-1. Nadal's last loss on clay came against Roger Federer in May 2007. Before that, he had won a record 81 consecutive matches on clay, a streak that began in 2005.
Nadal also suffered from a large blister on the bottom of his right foot and has only four days to recover for next week's Hamburg Masters. Nadal called for a trainer late in the second set to treat the blister, which began bothering him Sunday when he won the Barcelona Open.
"Two Masters Series without playing best conditions on clay is going to kill me," Nadal said. "The calendar is impossible."
Nadal had never lost at the Foro Italico, winning the Rome tournament each of the previous three years. The 23rd-ranked Ferrero took the Rome title 2001, two years before he was the French Open champion.
Ferrero didn't show much sympathy for Nadal.
"It's one week that he lost, and he will try again to play his level in Hamburg," Ferrero said. "He has a lot of time to prepare for Roland Garros."
Coming off a loss to Nadal in the Barcelona final, fifth-seeded David Ferrer fell to Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Spanish clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro beat seventh-seeded David Nalbandian 6-4, 7-5; Igor Andreev defeated No. 13 Juan Monaco 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; and Stanislas Wawrinka upset No. 14 Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Source: Xinhua/Agencies
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