Rafael Nadal's concerning French Open preparation continued this evening as he was beaten in straight sets by Stanislas Wawrinka in the Italian Open quarter-finals.
The nine-time Roland Garros champion, beaten by Andy Murray in the final of the Madrid Masters last week, went down 7-6(7) 6-2 to suffer another surprise defeat on clay.
The two players twice exchanged breaks of serve in a back-and-forth first set which lasted 75 minutes and culminated when Wawrinka won a tight tie-break.
Nadal responded by holding to love in the opening game of the second, but soon lost serve twice in succession in the process of falling 5-1 behind.
Four missed break-point opportunities in the sixth game were perhaps the Spaniard's final chances to get back into the match and Wawrinka soon closed out victory.
The world number eight will now face Swiss compatriot Roger Federer in the last four.
Joe Fish
