Shanghai: Rafael Nadal's Masters Cup hopes took a blow on Monday when he was handed a shock straight-sets defeat by American eighth seed James Blake.

The world number two, returning to action after missing last week's Paris Masters with an abdominal strain, was broken twice in the first set and lost a second-set tie-break to love as Blake won 6-4, 7-6 (7/0).

Blake punished Nadal with his dominant forehand in the first set but slipped to 0-4 in the second before rallying, breaking Nadal three times to force the tie-break.

"I just lost a little bit of momentum after the first set but I didn't want to get down on myself," said the jubilant American.
"You never know what happens and I turned it around and won the second set,"  he said.

The round-robin loss continues a dismal run for Nadal, who has not won a title since completing back-to-back French Open victories in May.

Despite the difference in their rankings, Nadal has never beaten Blake who now enjoys a 3-0 record against the Spaniard, all on hard courts.

"I played very good tennis today, I'm happy with my game and I felt comfortable on court. But at important moments I've lost my confidence, that was decisive today," said Nadal.

"He's one of the best players on this surface and if you don't have confidence on important points, you're going to lose,"  he said.

The 20-year-old got off to a good start, having the American at 0-40 in only the third game before breaking for 4-3.
But Blake broke back immediately and took the set at his first attempt when his profligate forays to the net finally produced a seventh break point.

Nadal raced to a 4-0 lead in the second before Blake rediscovered his touch, breaking three times in a row to force the tie-break.

With the pressure on, Nadal's composure deserted him and he handed Blake victory on a double-fault.
Both players were making their Masters Cup debuts after Nadal missed last year's season-ending tournament with a foot injury.

Blake was the last player to qualify for the eight-man event on the back of a breakthrough year in which he won five titles and entered the top 10 for the first time.

In Monday's second match, Nikolay Davydenko outlasted another Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, to win 7-6 (10/8), 3-6, 6-1 in two hours and 22 minutes.

The third-ranked Russian edged a marathon first set with a 10-8 tie-breaker after 73 minutes.

Robredo hit back to take the second set but appeared to run out of gas in the third, double-faulting to go 4-1 down and sending a forehand wide as Davydenko converted his first match point.

Davydenko won the injury-hit Paris Masters to reach the number three position after a globe-trotting year in which he has played 32 tournaments, winning five titles.

"Maybe I won today because I had confidence from my last tournament," he said.

"I always start tournaments slowly, I try to get better and better every match so in my second match I will try to play better," he said.

Davydenko is now 3-1 against Robredo, another Masters Cup debutant who, like Blake, broke into the top 10 this year.

Roger Federer, the tournament favourite and world number one, was earlier awarded a trophy for winning his third consecutive annual rankings race.

"I want to thank all the fans here and around the world. I feel very honoured," he told a ceremony on the Qi Zhong Stadium court.