Nadal suffers rare loss to Ferrero

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Rafael Nadal was beaten 7-5, 6-1 in the second round of the Rome Masters by Juan Carlos Ferrero. (AFP)

French Open champion Rafael Nadal lost for the first time ever here as he was beaten 7-5, 6-1 in the second round of the Rome Masters by Juan Carlos Ferrero on Wednesday.

It was also the world number two's first defeat on clay since losing the Hamburg final to Roger Federer, just under a year ago.

The Spanish clay king, bidding for his fourth straight title in Rome, was clearly hampered by blisters on his right foot in the second set and former world number one Ferrero showed a ruthless streak in dismissing the second seed.

It was Ferrero's first win on clay against Nadal and only his second victory in eight meetings, avenging a defeat by an almost identical score at Monte Carlo last month.

"It's a very important win for me, it feels very special and I've not felt this special for a long time," said Ferrero.

"I've won a special match. I was so strong mentally. I had things clear in my mind and I did them."Nadal put his defeat down to his injured foot."

"Today I didn't play my best tennis and the truth is that I didn't feel very good on court," he said.

"I couldn't plant my legs on the floor with power and every time I was playing the ball short because I couldn't play it long because of this pain. It was tough for me."

Serbia's Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic cruised into the third round following a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Belgian Steve Darcis.

The world number three has had a sensational start to the season, winning the first Grand Slam of the year and then also claiming the Indian Wells Masters title.

He currently leads the ATP champions race and is closing in on the world's top two - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - above him in the rankings.

The Serb is not known for his clay court expertise but he did win the Estoril Open on the surface last year.

He said the courts here in the Italian capital were also faster than normal clay surfaces, which was more to his liking, but he said he was still trying to adapt his game.

"It's not true that I'm not changing anything at all. I'm getting used to this surface and adapting to the system of the game and trying to play more patiently," he said.

"The ball bounces a lot higher than on other (clay) surfaces. The courts are really fast and the fact that they are slippery makes them even faster."

"So they're suitable to my type of game."

Eighth seed James Blake of the United States overcame a slow start to finally click into gear and dismiss home hope Andrea Seppi 7-6, 3-6, 6-1.

"I got through the first set and pulled it out and then he stepped it up a little," said Blake.

"I still couldn't quite find my range in the second and then to play as well as I did in the third and to really take advantage of my chances is a really good feeling."It was plain sailing for fourth seed Russian Nikolay Davydenko as he thrashed Croatian wildcard Mario Ancic 6-2, 6-2.

Olympic doubles champion Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, the 12th seed, was equally ruthless as he dismissed Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-3, 6-2.

But it was a bad day for some of the other seeds as David Ferrer, David Nalbandian, Andy Murray and Juan Monaco all crashed out.

Spaniard Ferrer, seeded fifth, had a good start against Czech Radek Stepanek but then saw his game collapse as he went down 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Argentina's former Wimbledon finalist Nalbandian, seventh, came unstuck against clay specialist Nicolas Almagro of Spain, losing 6-4, 7-5.

British 16th seed Murray was completely out of sorts and went down 6-2, 7-6 to Swiss Stanislaw Wawrinka while 13th seed Monaco lost in three sets to Russian Igor Andreev.

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