Sluggish Nadal Blown Out

Rafael Nadal, coming back from a layoff, was whipped 6-1 6-2 by unseeded David Nalbandian in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters. The No.2 seed, who had not competed since the US Open in September thanks to sore knees, appeared rusty and committed 29 unforced errors. It was the Spaniard’s worst defeat since October 2004.

"It's hard to play worse, which makes it a lot easier to go forward from this," said Nadal who won the French Open earlier this year and had defeated Andy Murray yesterday. Argentina’s Nalbandian moves on against Novak Djokovic in the semis, while top player Roger Federer competes in the quarterfinals later today. (More tennis stories.)