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Rafael Nadal from Spain reacts during his match against Ivan Dodig from Croatia during second round of play at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament Wednesday, August 10, 2011 in Montreal.Paul Chiasson

Days before the tournament opened, No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal wondered about his fitness and preparation for the Rogers Cup, his first action since Wimbledon, where he muddled through the final week nursing a bad foot.

Compounded by a throat issue that left him feeling weak and croaking out answers, Nadal faltered unexpectedly. In a match delayed by rain and that lasted over three hours, Nadal won an easy first set against Croatian up-and-comer Ivan Dodig and then promptly dropped the next two sets in heart-breaking tie-breakers.

The end result: Nadal joined Andy Murray, the tournament's No. 4 seed, on the sidelines, leaving the bottom half of the draw wide open. Dodig fought back hard after a nervous first set and played an audacious brand of tennis, punctuated by a strong night on serve. He was down 3-1 in the second set and 5-3 in the third, but managed to fight off nerves - and the challenge of one of the world's pre-eminent players to register the most important win of his career.

"Seriously, I didn't feel that I played bad," said Nadal, who was up a break once in the second set and twice in the third, but couldn't close out the match. "In the decisive moments, I didn't play well. That's the truth."

Nadal put his struggles to win key points down to "a little bit of everything. Little bit of long time without competition. Little bit of I started one week and a half ago playing tennis.

"He played very well, very aggressive. He didn't feel the pressure in the important moments. And at the end of the match, probably I was a little bit unlucky today, no?

"I felt I played enough well to win that match. But that's tennis. The only thing I can do is congratulate the opponent and keep working for Cincinnati."

For Nadal, it was the first time he'd lost his opening-round match in a tournament since Rome in 2008. Afterward, Nadal said his foot didn't bother him at all.

When someone noted that it was an incredible match, played at a high level, Nadal answered: "Well, for me wasn't that incredible.

"(It) was an emotional match and bad for me. Is not the first lose in my career when I had an advantage. That happens. Not going to be last time for me. I have to accept these losses exactly the same like the victories and keep working."

Nadal is the defending U.S. Open champion, but said he felt no pressure to redeem himself with a strong showing at next week's event in Cincinnati, the last tune-up for the final major of the season.

"I would love to do (well), but I don't have to. That's the sport. You don't have to play well every week. You don't have to be all the time at your best. It's not an obligation to win or be in the final every week. That's what I want to do all the time. That's what I try all the time. But is not possible, no?

"This year is been fantastic year for me with tough moments. Today probably is a tough one. But worst when you lose five finals. I lost five finals this year. I'm playing well. You know, after long time without a strange loss, I lose today. Let's work hard to try don't to repeat that in Cincinnati."

As for Dodig, when he was asked if he could believe that he pulled out an upset of this magnitude, his answer was candid.

"I cannot," he said, with a smile. "I was fighting and I didn't think about the score. I was really enjoying. The stadium was full and the crowd was great, supporting both players.

"In the end I won. Yeah, I was so happy. Didn't know what to say. But it's nice impression in front of the full stadium to beat such a good player."

Generally, players in the middle ranks struggle against the top names in the game - and are sometimes done in before they ever step on the court. Dodig had only one previous win over a top-10 player, defeating Sweden's Robin Soderling earlier this year.

"I think all players playing against Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, they are the three biggest player for me by far - and I cannot say that I enter on the court to say, 'okay, I will beat Nadal.' But I enter and I say, I gonna play every point, I will fight, try my best. Today I was more happy. I was more lucky. In the end, the fight, all that stuff, helped me to win.

"Maybe I think for sure he didn't play his best tennis. But I use maybe his bad day, and for me it's fine."

Nadal was 51-8 on the season - 0-5 against Djokovic and 51-3 against everyone else - but had no answers for Dodig, who defeated Jeremy Chardy of France in the first round. It was the biggest win of Dodig's career, in the midst of a breakthrough year in which his ranking has climbed from 88 to 41 and including his first-ever victory on the ATP tour, in Zagreb. Dodig will next face Janko Tipsarevic in the third round.

With Nadal and Murray both on the sidelines, the draw opens up nicely for American Mardy Fish, the No. 6 seed, who defeated Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3 in the final match of the night. Fish and Lopez were scheduled to start play at 7:30 p.m., but the multiple rain delays and the length of the Nadal-Dodig match meant they didn't get on the court until after 11 p.m. Fish, however, had little difficulty with Lopez, and gained revenge for a loss to the Spaniard during Davis Cup play last month in Austin, Texas.

Fish will next play Latvia's Ernests Gulbis in the third round. Gulbis, a wild card entry in the tournament, advanced with a win over France's Michael Llodra. Fish and No. 7 Tomas Berdych are the highest remaining seeds in the bottom half of the draw, which has also seen the departures of No. 9 Gilles Simon, No. 10 Michael Youzhny and No. 15 Fernando Verdasco.

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