Rafael Nadal has crashed out of the Shanghai Masters following a three-set defeat to Austria's Jurgen Melzer.
Top seed stunned by Austrian lefty
World number one Rafael Nadal has crashed out of the Shanghai Masters following a three-set defeat to Austria's Jurgen Melzer.
The 13th-seeded Melzer, who had never taken a set off Nadal in three previous matches, recorded a memorable 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory to progress to the quarter-finals.
Melzer came out firing and Nadal, who made a string of unforced errors early on, simply could not cope with the power and accuracy of his opponent.
The Spaniard, who picked up his seventh title of a phenomenal season in Tokyo last week, went on to lose a set 6-1 for the first time in almost a year.
Frustration
Normal order was restored in the second set, though, with Nadal upping his game while Melzer, the world number 12, began to make more mistakes.
That looked like being the turning point but the Austrian was determined not to let the opportunity slip away and, after withstanding some early pressure in the decider, he broke in the sixth game.
There was controversy with Nadal trailing 5-2 and serving at match point down when another huge Melzer groundstroke forced the Spaniard into an error.
But, to Melzer's obvious frustration, his shot was called out, and, although he successfully challenged, that gave Nadal another chance.
The 24-year-old took it to force Melzer to serve out the match, but that proved no problem as he won the game to love.
Melzer, 29, told
Sky Sports: "I'm really happy. When you have match point and you've basically won the match, all the pressure falls off because I didn't hear the call.
"But then serving at 5-3 I stepped in on a backhand on the first point and that helped. It was a really good service game."
The Austrian, who fired down 14 aces and converted three of 12 break-point opportunities, is enjoying by far his best season and is in contention for a place at next month's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in both the singles and doubles.
Melzer highlighted his run to the semi-finals at the French Open - where he was beaten by Nadal - as the key to his new-found confidence.
He added: "Once you reach the semis of a grand slam, anything is possible."
Djokovic, Federer through
Meanwhile, world number two Novak Djokovic had no such problems reaching the last eight, the two-time Beijing champion hammering Richard Gasquet 6-1 6-1.
"I'm feeling good on the court," said Djokovic.
"I'm hitting the ball and playing better and better every day. So I'm just hoping that it's going to stay that way in the upcoming rounds."
And third seed Roger Federer also advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Italy's Andreas Seppi.
Federer found himself a break down in the second set but hit back immediately before wrapping up the win in 75 minutes.
Elsewhere in the third round, Swedish fifth seed Robin Soderling beat Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5 6-4, while number 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga saw off Florian Mayer 7-5 6-3.
