ROME—Rafael Nadal lost for only the second time in his last 105 matches on clay, falling to Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-1 Wednesday in the second round of the Rome Masters.

Nadal was bothered by a blister on his right foot and called for the trainer late in the second set.

The blister began bothering Nadal on Sunday, when he won the Barcelona Open.

“Today when I woke up, I said it was impossible to play,” Nadal said. “I spoke to the doctor today and yesterday, and they put special protection on it and cream, but it was still tough.”

Nadal’s last loss on clay came against No. 1 Roger Federer in the Hamburg Masters in May 2007. Before that, Nadal had won a record 81 consecutive matches on the red surface, a streak that began in April 2005.

The second-ranked Nadal had never lost at the Foro Italico, winning the Rome tournament each of the previous three years. The 23rd-ranked Ferrero took the Rome title 2001, two years before he was the French Open champion.

Earlier Wednesday, third-ranked Novak Djokovic showed no signs of illness when he cruised past Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-0 in his opening match.

Two seeded players were upset in the second round.

Coming off an appearance in the Barcelona Open final, fifth-seeded David Ferrer lost to Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Spanish clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro upset seventh-seeded David Nalbandian 6-4, 7-5. Igor Andreev knocked off No. 13 Juan Monaco 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, and Stanislas Wawrinka ousted No. 14 Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Croatian wild card Mario Ancic 6-2, 6-2; No. 8 James Blake held off Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1; and No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez—last year’s runner-up—defeated Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev 6-3, 6-2.

Blake struggled with his forehand—committing 33 errors with that stroke alone—but his one-handed backhand worked well. The American hit a backhand passing shot up the line to break Seppi’s serve for a 3-1 lead in the third set, then rolled from there.





“In the third set, I really started to find my game,” Blake said. “A lot of shots I was missing starting going in.”

The 28-year-old Blake reached his first career clay-court final last month in Houston, losing to Marcel Granollers.

“A lot of times, Americans have trouble on clay,” Blake said. “But the older I get, the more I learn, and my clay-court game is starting to come together.”