Defending champion Rafael Nadal suffered a shock defeat by Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.
Nadal finished 2015 in decent form and was optimistic of better times ahead this year but so far they have not materialised.
A chastening loss to Novak Djokovic in the final in Doha was followed by a first-round defeat by Fernando Verdasco at the Australian Open.
Nadal had won his only previous clash with Thiem comfortably on clay at the French Open in 2014 but this was a different story as the Austrian prevailed 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7/4).
Thiem is the youngest player in the top 20 and the 22-year-old showed his growing maturity by coming through a tight third set.
After seeing an early break slip away, the world number 19 saved a match point at 4-5 with a brave forehand and then took advantage of Nadal errors to dominate the tie-break.
Earlier, David Ferrer won a rain-delayed quarter-final against Pablo Cuevas 6-4 1-6 6-3.
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| Rafael Nadal suffered a defeat by Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires |
Nadal had won his only previous clash with Thiem comfortably on clay at the French Open in 2014 but this was a different story as the Austrian prevailed 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7/4).
Thiem is the youngest player in the top 20 and the 22-year-old showed his growing maturity by coming through a tight third set.
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| Defending champion Nadal covers his eyes with his towel during his lost to Austrian youngster, Thiem |
Earlier, David Ferrer won a rain-delayed quarter-final against Pablo Cuevas 6-4 1-6 6-3.
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