By Chris Oddo | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Rafael Nadal's grass-court season started--and finished--in a hurry, as the world No. 1 was taken down by Dustin Brown, 6-4, 6-1.
Photo Source: Thomas Starke/ Bongarts
Rafael Nadal’s grass-court season started—and finished—on Thursday in Halle, Germany, as the world No. 1 was boxed out of the Gerry Weber Open by hard-serving Dustin Brown, 6-4, 6-1.
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Returning to action just four days after his title-clinching victory at Roland Garros over Novak Djokovic, Nadal stayed on serve through the first nine games of the set, but while serving to stay alive in the opener, Brown rallied to secure the set on the first of his three breaks of serve on the day.
The bullet-serving Brown then raced out to a 5-0 lead against the fatigued Spaniard in the second set, and clinched the match two games later with his ninth consecutive hold of the match. Brown saved the only break point he faced on Thursday while winning 26 of 31 first serve points and hammering 11 aces past Nadal.
"The only way I could have tried to do more was resisting with my serve, something I hadn't practiced a lot these days," said Nadal, who faced an all-out attack from Brown's high-risk return game. "For the first four games he didn't put any returns on the court and then suddenly he was playing winners from the return, so it's difficult to analyze these kinds of matches. The only thing I can do is keep working the way that I did the last three days, because I came here, I tried hard, I tried my best."
In addition to winning his first career match against a reigning No. 1, Brown cracked another milestone with the landmark victory:
The victory is Brown’s second straight against the ATP’s top ten. He defeated then world No. 9 John Isner in Houston earlier this spring for his first. Brown is 2-3 lifetime against the top ten.
Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion, drops to 50-14 lifetime on grass, and 41-7 on the season.
The Spaniard failed in his bid to become the 11th player in ATP history to reach his 700th career win with the loss. His career record now stands at 699-136.