Rafael Nadal failed to reach a quarterfinal for the first time this year after a shock defeat by Jurgen Melzer in the third round of the Shanghai Masters on Thursday.
The No. 1-ranked Nadal had never dropped a set to the Austrian in three previous meetings but went down 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. The Spaniard had most recently beaten Melzer in the semifinals of the French Open this year on his way to the title.
Nadal won the U.S. Open in September to become the seventh man in history to win all four Grand Slam tournaments and was bidding for his eighth title of the season in Shanghai.
Melzer played aggressively from the start, hitting booming forehand winners and attacking Nadal's second serve to break the Spaniard twice and capture the opening set in 40 minutes.
Nadal stormed back in the second set, getting his first - and only - break of the match with a running backhand down the line that the Austrian dumped into the net.
The two players held serve in the deciding set until the fifth game when Nadal badly shanked a forehand long and hit another one wide to give Melzer his third break of the match. The Spaniard saved three match points on his serve, but Melzer easily put the match away on his next serve.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray both had easier times on Thursday.
Djokovic, aiming to win back-to-back titles after capturing the China Open in Beijing last week, defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-1.
Gasquet looked drained after winning two matches due to the rain-delayed schedule earlier in the week. He dropped serve five times and had only six winners, compared to 25 for the second-ranked Serb.
''I don't know how (Gasquet) felt and I didn't care,'' Djokovic said. ''I did really well from the start. I put pressure on him and I was aggressive. I didn't give him a chance to come back into the match.''
Djokovic next faces Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who upset Wimbledon finalist and seventh-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6 (4), 6-3. Garcia-Lopez advanced Wednesday when Andy Roddick retired with a groin injury while leading 6-3, 2-3.
Murray beat qualifier Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 6-4 to reach his ninth quarterfinal this year.
Murray started off slowly against the 59th-ranked Chardy, facing three break points in his opening service game. But he served two aces and flicked a volley past Chardy at the net to hold and then immediately broke his opponent at love in the next game.
''I served well under pressure,'' Murray said. ''That was really, really important to get a good start in the match because he's very, very streaky. He can play some great tennis, so I needed to try to get ahead early and I managed to do that.''
The Scot has benefited from a relatively easy draw, receiving a first-round bye and beating a 465th-ranked Chinese wild card in the second round. He'll face his first real test in the quarterfinals when he faces 12th-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who defeated Germany's Florian Mayer 7-5, 6-3.
