Clay court king Rafael Nadal was knocked out of the Italian Open on Saturday, falling to a straight sets defeat against Argentine Diego Schwartzman in a tournament the Spaniard had won nine times.
Eight-seeded Schwartzman meted out a punishing 6-2, 7-5 loss in Nadal’s final warm-up before his bid for a 13th French Open, and record-equalling 20th Grand Slam in just over a week.
Top men’s seed Novak Djokovic also stumbled on the Roman clay but recovered to win through 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 against German qualifier Dominik Koepfer.
After 9 straight losses to 9-time @InteBNLdItalia champion#Nadal, [8] @dieschwartzman defeats the Spaniard 6-2, 7-5
to advance to his 2nd straight #Rome SF. Next: 1st-time meeting vs. #Shapovalov.— ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) September 19, 2020
“It was not my night at all,” said Nadal, who had won all nine previous meetings against 28-year-old…