Friday 3 October 2014 16:20, UK
Slovakia's Martin Klizan produced an inspired performance to knock Rafael Nadal out of the China Open in three gruelling sets 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-3 and reach the semi-finals.
World No 2 Nadal, who beat his opponent in the opening round of Wimbledon earlier this year, was playing in his third competitive singles match following a two-month layoff due to a right wrist injury and fatigue seemed to finally catch up on him.
The Spaniard is still far from his world-beating best and big-hitting qualifier Klizan produced some scintillating power tennis to grind out a famous win in two hours and 36 minutes of action at the National Tennis Center.
The second seed in Beijing, Nadal struggled badly on his second serve winning just 32 per cent of those points, while the 56th-ranked left-hander Klizan was more aggressive around the court.
One service break apiece in the first set led to a tie-break which the Spaniard eventually won.
And, although he broke in the third game of the second set when Klizan sent a backhand wide, the Slovakian saved a break point in game seven and broke back in the next on his way to taking the set.
In the decider, Nadal had to brilliantly save a break point in his first service game, but broke in the fifth game, only to immediately drop his serve twice in a row.
That left Klizan serving for the match and he finished the job in style, with a flying cross-court smash to round off a hold to 15.
Klizan will now meet Czech world No 6 Tomas Berdych after he helped his cause in aiming to qualify for next month's ATP World Tour Finals in London with an imperious straight-sets win over John Isner.
The champion in Beijing in 2011 currently holds the eighth position in the race for London, the final berth for the end of season tournament involving the world's top eight players.
Berdych, who made the last four in Beijing last year, made light work of American Isner 6-1 6-4 to achieve the same feat this year.
You can watch both semi-finals of the ATP China Open LIVE on Sky Sports 3 HD from 5.30am on Saturday.
