By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, October 8, 2014

 

Feliciano Lopez rallied to defeat Rafael Nadal in Shanghai to set up a third-round encounter with John Isner.

Photo Source: Kevin Lee/Getty

Feliciano Lopez secured his third career victory in 12 tries against Rafael Nadal at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Wednesday, saving a set point in the second set to rally for a 6-3, 7-6(6) victory over his compatriot.

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Nadal, who had won four straight against Lopez since losing to him on grass at Queen’s Club in 2010, dropped to 2-3 in his last five matches.

The Spaniard, who was diagnosed with early stage appendicitis on Sunday, gave credit to his opponent while admitting that his current situation isn’t ideal.

"For sure [I’m not feeling] perfect," said Nadal, according to ATPworldtour.com. "It's the same way that I felt before. A little bit more dizzy now. But that's it. Nothing that I have to worry about. When you lose a match, it is not the moment to talk about obvious things. I lost. Feli played better than me."

Lopez will bid to reach his third Masters 1000 quarterfinal (Madrid, Toronto) of the season when he meets John Isner in the third round on Thursday. Isner took out fellow American Steve Johnson, 7-6(6), 7-6(7), behind 24 aces.

Elsewhere on Wednesday in Shanghai, Grigor Dimitrov was ousted by Julien Benneteau, 7-5, 6-3, while Stan Wawrinka was taken out by Gilles Simon, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4.

Other big winners were Tomas Berdych, who trounced Richard Gasquet, Jack Sock, who notched his first career top ten win over Kei Nishikori, and David Ferrer, who edged Martin Klizan in three tight sets.

Milos Raonic had to retire in the first set with a stomach bug against Juan Monaco.