Nicolás Almagro recorded a 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over Rafael Nadal at the Barcelona Open today, handing Nadal his first loss at the tournament since he made his debut as a 15 year old in 2003and lost to Alex Corretja.
It was Almagro's first victory over his compatriot in 11 meetings and sets up a semi-final meeting with unseeded Colombian, Santiago Giraldo, who was a set and 4-3 up against Philipp Kohlschreiber when the German retired on Friday evening.
Nadal won his 44th straight set at the clay-court event tournament by winning the first set 6-2. Recovering from a 1-3 deficit in the tie-break, sixth seed Almagro held his nerve to win the second set 7-6(5), the first set Nadal had lost in Barcelona since the 2008 final against David Ferrer.
Almagro won three straight games to come back from 0-3 down in the deciding set. Nadal broke back immediately in a tense eighth game, but lost his serve to love to gift Almagro a 5-4 lead. The World No. 20 fought back from 15/40 when he served for the match to complete the biggest win of his career in two hours and 48 minutes.
