Rafael Nadal is dumped out of Barcelona Open by Italian Fabio Fognini
Second seeded 'King of Clay' committed too many errors in erratic performance against big-hitting Italian in third round, ending hopes of ninth title in Catalan capital
Rafael Nadal's clay-court woes mounted on Thursday at the Barcelona Open with another loss.
The eight-time champion lost to Fabio Fognini 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), in the third round, a year after his 41-match winning streak ended in the quarter-finals.
After losing the first set, Nadal appeared to have rebounded and broke his Italian opponent three times in the second set, but Fognini answered each time to force a tiebreaker.
The "King of Clay", who is world number four and second seed, produced an erratic performance in the Catalan capital and the big-hitting Fognini punished the Spaniard's errors to end Nadal's bid for a ninth Barcelona title.
After winning their first four career meetings, Nadal has lost twice to Fognini this year on his preferred surface.
Nadal, a nine-time French Open champion, was trying to rebound from last week's semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters, which is also a clay surface tournament.