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Rafael Nadal suffered his first defeat at the Barcelona Open since 2003, going down 2-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 to Nicolas Almagro in the quarter-finals.
Nadal was bidding for his ninth title in 10 years at the venue - he missed the 2010 tournament - but instead was beaten by fellow Spaniard Almagro for the first time in 11 career meetings.
His lone previous defeat in Barcelona came on his debut as a 15-year-old and it looked like normal service as Nadal broke Almagro's serve three times on the way to taking the first set.
Nadal didn't face a break point during the second set but Almagro saved five on his own delivery and then took the tie-break 7-5.
Sixth seed Almagro broke three times in the decider and closed out a long-awaited victory over his compatriot in two hours and 47 minutes.
The world No 20's reward is a semi-final against either Santiago Giraldo or Philipp Kohlschreiber.
In the other semi-final, fourth seed Kei Nishikori will take on ninth seed Ernests Gulbis.
Japan's Nishikori saw off 12th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic 6-1 6-3, while Latvian Gulbis was a 6-1 6-4 winner over Russia's Teymuraz Gabashvili.
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