Filed under: Australian Open, ATP
Rafael Nadal's dream at the "Rafa Slam" came to a crashing halt on Wednesday night at the Australian Open. The top-seeded Spaniard lost to compatriot David Ferrer in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, as Ferrer earned his first berth into the Australian Open semifinals.
Nadal, who was treated with a medical ailment in the first set, suffered an apparent hamstring injury to his left leg early on in the match that hampered his play throughout the contest. For a majority of the match, Nadal grimaced in pain, lacked strength in his leg and moved poorly. However, even with Nadal's injury aside, Ferrer managed to play a dominant contest as he earned his first win against Nadal since 2007, having lost seven straight.
The 24-year-old Nadal, who won last year's French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open, was seeking to presently hold every major title with a win at this year's Australian Open.
But on Wednesday, last year's most dominating player on the men's tour lost his first Grand Slam match in 26 contests. Nadal's last loss in a major came a year ago at the Australian Open -- in the same round -- when he had to retire with a knee injury against Andy Murray.
Unlike last year, though, the nine-time Grand Slam champion and 2009 Australian Open victor battled to the end on Wednesday.
The match started off bizarrely, with Ferrer dictating pace from the outset and breaking Nadal to take a 2-0 lead off a 22-point game that took approximately 17 minutes.
Nadal then won the third game, but took a medical timeout after injuring himself at some point during the first few games. The evaluation of Nadal's injury was done in an off-court setting, so the public was not immediately privy the exact details of the top-ranked player's injury. However, Nadal returned to the court with his leg taped and ESPN later intimated in the second set that it was a hamstring injury.
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