Appearing in just a second tournament since his defeat to Stanislas Wawrinka in the Australian Open final last January, the Spaniard had battled past Radek Stepanek in the previous round and again failed to hit top form against the 28^th seed Dolgopolov.

Nadal was below par in his third round clash

The recurrence of the back injury he sustained against Wawrinka was evident, as despite drawing the match level in the second set and leading the decisive tie-break 4-2 he was unable to close the contest out.

For Dolgpolov, it was his first triumph over the Spaniard, having lost all previous encounters in the past without winning a single set.

The 25-year-old has climbed 26 places in…