Rafael Nadal crashes out of Madrid Open in third round to Fernando Verdasco on controversial blue clay Nadal had beaten Verdasco, the 15th seed at his home town Masters event, in all 13 of their previous meetings but an error-strewn performance ended his bid for a third straight clay title this season and deprived him of a chance to avenge his defeat to Novak Djokovic in last year's final. Verdasco broke his Davis Cup team mate's serve seven times on the blue clay of the Manolo Santana show court and clubbed 31 winners to his opponent's 19 to set up a last-eight clash against Tomas Berdych. Nadal, the world number two and French Open champion, looked to be cruising to victory at 5-2 in the deciding set but twice faltered when serving for the match and Verdasco incredibly conjured another break when he converted his second match point with yet another crashing forehand.