Rafael Nadal Crashes Out of Shanghai Masters, Djokovic, Federer, Murray Advance

Rafael Nadal crashed out of the Shanghai Masters today 6-1, 3-6 and 6-3, courtesy of 13th seed Juregen Melzer. It is the first time this season that Nadal has failed to reach the quarterfinals of a tournament.

Nadal who won his first Tokyo Open on Sunday, had never lost a set to Melzer in their three previous meetings. The last time the two met was in the semi-finals of the French Open.

"This isn’t a surprise for me. I didn’t play well," said Nadal. "I felt slow on court and I made more mistakes than usual. In general, I am a little bit more tired than usual, physically and mentally."

Melzer showed his intent from the start, hitting powerful, aggressive shots from the back of the court. Although he faced a break point in the first game of the first set, he dug himself out of trouble by serving three aces on the trot.

"I felt he was uncomfortable after a few games," Melzer said. "When the ball was in play, he sometimes missed and his backhand was just dying in the net. I felt if I kept playing like that and not give him too much rhythm, I’d have my chance."

Melzer broke Nadal twice and took the opening set in 40 minutes. However, the Spaniard fought back valiantly in the second and took the set by breaking the Austrian once. In the third set, the Spaniard looked tired and created more unforced errors than usual. Melzer took advantage and now faces Juan Monaco of Argentina in the next round.

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer  and Andy Murray are all advanced to the final eight. Second-ranked Djokovic beat Richard Gasquet 6-1 6-1, third-ranked Federer made light work of Italian Adreas Seppi 6-3 6-4, while Murray, who yesterday secured his place at the World Tour Finals in London next month, swept aside Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-4.

Fifth seed Robin Soderling beat Spain's David Ferrer 7-5 6-4, in a match highlighted with breaks of serve, while seventh seed Tomas Berdych crashed out to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 6-3.