Rafael Nadal lost 6-4, 6-4 to Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the Madrid Open quarter-finals on Friday, casting doubts over the Spaniard’s form ahead of this month’s French Open.
Nadal has now fallen early in two clay-court Masters tournaments ahead of the Grand Slam in Paris, after going out in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals last month before winning in Barcelona.
Even in Barcelona, however, he needed to save a championship point to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
World number two Nadal is hoping to clinch a 14th Roland Garros title and record-setting 21st major in the French capital.
“I had the match under control at the beginning and was playing well for six games, probably playing better than him,” said Nadal.
“Then at 4-2 serving for 5-2, I had a disaster.”
Nadal continued: “Of course, playing against one of the best players in the world, under these circumstances, with this speed of the court, it’s very difficult. I tried but it’s true that the serve was difficult to control today.”
Zverev has now beaten Nadal three times in a row but this was his first victory on clay against the five-time Madrid champion.
“It’s definitely one of the biggest wins of my career so far, especially on clay against Rafa,” Zverev said.
“It is the toughest thing to do in our sport. Beating him in his house, in Spain, is incredible but the tournament is not over yet.”
Zverev’s impressive straights-set win at the Caja Magica earns him a meeting with Dominic Thiem in the semis, in what will be a repeat of last year’s US Open final, which was won by Thiem.
After losing to world number eight Andrey Rublev in Monaco, Nadal was convincingly beaten by Zverev and the spotlight will be on the 34-year-old now in Rome next week, his last tournament before heading to Paris.
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