(Reuters) - Rafa Nadal's below-par season has continued with the former world number one dumped from the Rio Open semi-finals with a 6-7(6) 7-6(3) 6-4 defeat by unseeded Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas on Saturday.
The top seed pipped Cuevas in a first set tie-break and denied his opponent two set points in the second but succumbed to his first defeat against the world number 45.
"I lost an opportunity, that's it," Spaniard Nadal said after being denied his 100th ATP final by claycourt specialist Cuevas who fired 48 winners to clinch the contest.
"I fought until the end.