BARCELONA, Spain -- Top-ranked Rafael Nadals clay-court struggles worsened Friday as his 41-match winning streak at the Barcelona Open ended with a three-set loss to Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals. cheap jerseys from china . Nadal was looking for his ninth title in Barcelona but lost 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, a week after going out in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters to David Ferrer. Nadal, widely considered the greatest clay-court player of all time, hadnt lost in Barcelona since his debut as a 15-year-old in 2003, although he missed the tournament in 2010. He had not dropped a set here since the 2008 final. The 20th-ranked Almagro converted his second match point, smashing a forehand down the line for his first career victory over his fellow Spaniard on the 11th try. "I had a lot of opportunities in the second set," Nadal said. "I didnt take advantage of break points, so credit goes to him." After failing to convert any of his five break points in the second set, Nadal missed a return in the tiebreaker to give Almagro a 6-5 lead. Almagro followed up with a crosscourt forehand winner to level the match and end Nadals streak of 44 straight sets at the tournament. Both players were steady on serve until an exchange of breaks made it 4-4 in the third, and Nadal then sent a shot long to be broken again and give Almagro a chance to serve for the match. Nadal set up two straight chances to break back, but hit a forehand long and then sent a smash into the net with Almagro out of position. Nadal then saved the first match point when Almagros backhand flew wide. But Almagro used a serve-and-volley to save a third break point of the game before Nadals long return set up the second match point. Nadal hadnt been eliminated this early in back-to-back clay-court tournaments since 2004, when as an 18-year-old he also failed to get past the quarterfinals in Stuttgart and Bastad. "This is an important win for my career," said Almagro, who celebrated wildly. Almagro will face Santiago Giraldo in Saturdays semifinals after Philipp Kohlschreiber retired with an injury while trailing 6-4, 4-3. Earlier, Kei Nishikori of Japan and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia overpowered opponents to set up a semifinal meeting. The fourth-seeded Nishikori continued his good run since returning from a groin injury with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic of Croatia, while the ninth-seeded Gulbis dismissed Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-4. Gulbis saved all five break points against Gabashvili, who had knocked out the fifth-ranked Ferrer. wholesale jerseys . -- The Royals have agreed to terms with 10 players not yet eligible for arbitration on major league contracts, including outfielders Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson. nfl jerseys china . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Tuukka Rask, Boston (4) - Explosive, perfect positioning and great rebound control for all five games that led to this series being clinched. Andrew Wiggins and Kansas have been upset. Wichita States undefeated season is over. Watch the road to the Sweet Sixteen today, as TSN2 and TSN GO return with coverage of the NCAA Mens Basketball Championships Round of 32. Coverage is underway on TSN2 now while TSN GO also offers TSN subscribers bonus online coverage, with live streams of all four venues. Sundays Results Dwight Powell had 15 points and seven rebounds and No. 10 seed Stanford wrapped up its second straight upset at the free throw line, knocking off No. 2 Kansas 60-57. Canadian freshman Andrew Wiggins had just four points on 1-for-6 shooting with four turnovers in his final college game for Kansas (25-10). Wiggins, from Vaughan, Ont., is a likely NBA lottery pick and had averaged 28 points the previous four games. Andrew Harrison converted 3-of-4 foul shots down the stretch and Fred VanVleets contested three-pointer fell short just prior to the buzzer, allowing Kentucky to knock off Wichita State, 78-76. DeAndre Kane drove for the game-winningg layup with 1. cheap jerseys. .6 seconds left and No. 3 seed Iowa State beat North Carolina 85-83 on Sunday, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000. Jarnell Stokes had 17 points and a career-high-tying 18 rebounds, and the Tennessee Volunteers denied Mercer a second straight upset in the NCAA tournament by routing the Bears 83-63 on Sunday night. Jordan Adams had 19 points, Norman Powell scored 16 and UCLA moved on to the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years with a 77-60 win over Stephen F. Austin. Isaiah Austin and Canadian Brady Heslip each scored 17 points and Baylor shut down Creightons Doug McDermott with suffocating defence, ending the career of one of college basketballs most prolific scorers with an 85-55 win Sunday night in the NCAA tournament West Regional. Joe Harris had 16 points and five rebounds and the Cavaliers routed Memphis, 78-60, to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1995. (With files from the Associated Press and SportsNetwork.com) wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '
