Rafael Nadal falls in the first round round of Aegon Championship

Rafael Nadal was sent packing in the first-round stage of the Aegon Championship after a three-set defeat to Alexandr Dolgopolov. In a space of two hours and 13 minutes, the Spaniard lost to the 26-year-old Ukrainian 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4.

Nadal, who seemed to be on a roll leading straight to Wimbledon, winning on the grass court at Stuttgart, has now suffered a major setback – a surprise loss at the hands of Dolgopolov.

The Ukrainian, playing well above his world ranking of 79, simply outplayed the two-time Wimbledon champion. The top-ranked Ukrainian player came out of the blocks quickly with some fierce hitting, comfortably sealing the first set 6-3.

The Former World number 13 continued his good rhythm in the second set. He even went onto to create a match-point in the tie-break 6-5, only for the Spaniard to pull out some decent serves and claim the set with three straight points.

Former World Number one Nadal turned up his game and raced off to a 4-2 lead in the deciding set. However, Dolgopolov didn’t let the pressure get to him and the Ukrainian resorted to some unorthodox stroke-play to punish Nadal’s weak second serve. He continued in this manner and found himself hitting a forehand winner down the line to the seal the set, 6-4 and also the match.

“But at the end, no, he played well and he was a little bit better than me. I cannot say I am very sad the way that I played… My feelings, my thoughts are no different today than yesterday. I am better, I am playing better than before, and enjoying more on court than before,” said an optimistic Nadal.

While Dolgopolov went up to the courtside microphone to celebrate only his second win over Nadal in seven matches, Nadal left quickly to prepare for his evening doubles match alongside his compatriot Marc López.