Rafael Nadal's 16-match unbeaten streak was brought to a juddering halt by Czech teenager Tomas Berdych on Tuesday, the world number two falling 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 in a first-round encounter at the Cincinnati Masters.
Fresh from a ninth title of the season at the Montreal Masters on Sunday, the Spaniard blew three match points in the final set before Berdych took the decisive tiebreaker after almost three hours of pulsating action.
The two 19-year-olds fought out a stunning battle, the Czech plundering huge winners from the baseline and Nadal chasing down everything as if he was playing his first, and not his 74th match of the year.
The French Open champion snatched the first set 7-4 in a tiebreak but the world number 36 hit back to take the second, thanks to some punishing groundstrokes that even the mobile Nadal could not run down.
Berdych, who beat Roger Federer in the first round of the Olympic Games last year, roared back to level the match and then looked poised for victory when he broke to lead 5-4 in the third set.
Nadal refused to give up though, and after breaking back, he held three match points in the 12th game only for Berdych to save them all and force a tiebreak.
A Nadal double-fault gave Berdych three match points, and he clinched victory on his first to set up a second round match against Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
SLOW START
Earlier, Australian Open champion Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt, the player he beat in the Melbourne final, returned to winning ways.
Fourth seed Safin, in his first match since last month's Wimbledon after intensive treatment on his left knee, overcame Czech qualifier Jan Hernych 7-6, 6-4.
Hewitt, the third seed, beat Russian Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-4.
Safin had to recover from a slow start after twice falling a break of serve down to world number 86 Hernych but once he had won the tiebreak 7-3, he ran out a comfortable winner.
"I've been out for one month and a half and I didn't really practice before the tournament," Safin said.
"It's kind of difficult to come back and play in a high level. So I was also a little bit nervous. My knee still hurts a little bit. I am still afraid to move fast.
"Hopefully, it will get better."
The Russian now faces British wild card Andy Murray who ousted American Taylor Dent 7-6 7-6 in his first Masters Series appearance.
Hewitt, who retired from his first-round clash with Frenchman Florent Serra in Montreal last week because of a stomach upset, looked back to full health as he clinched a meeting with Greg Rusedski.
FOOD POISONING
Hewitt said he was still recovering from the virus which forced him out in Montreal.
"I thought it might have been food poisoning first off," he told reporters.
"It was just my stomach basically that was playing up so I just couldn't keep any food down.
"They did blood tests and whatever and couldn't find a whole heap. It was just some kind of virus that was in my system for about a week or so.
"I am much better now than I was a week ago."
Former champion Carlos Moya beat Xavier Malisse 6-4, 6-4, while unseeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, who reached the semi-finals in Montreal, picked up where he left off with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory over German Tommy Haas.
Argentine pair Gaston Gaudio, the former French Open champion and eighth seed here, and Mariano Puerta (10), the runner-up at Roland Garros this year, both went out.
Gaudio was beaten 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 by Spaniard Tommy Robredo, while Puerta went down 7-6, 6-1 to American Robby Ginepri.
Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko put out Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 7-6, 7-5 while 13th seed Thomas Johansson of Sweden lost 6-1, 7-5 to Slovak Dominik Hrbaty.
