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Rafael Nadal’s rousing, dramatic last stand on home soil came to an end just after midnight in the early hours of Wednesday morning as he was outhit and outplayed by Jiri Lehecka, a talented young Czech, who seized one of the biggest moments of his career so far by toppling the Spaniard 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open.
The defeat will likely mark Nadal’s final time competing at the tournament he has won a record five times, with the 37-year-old expecting 2024 to be the final year of his career.