Nadal crashes out of Rio Open (updated)

Rafael Nadal was eliminated from the Rio Open on Saturday, suffering a 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 defeat to Italian Fabio Fognini in the semifinals.

The 14-time Grand Slam winner looked remarkably fresh early despite having only 14 hours to recover from his quarterfinal victory over Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas.

The first four games of the second set went against serve before Fognini won the next three games to take the match into a deciding set.

Nadal became visibly affected by cramp as both players held serve in the final set.

The 28-year-old Spaniard twice saved match points in the 12th game before the tournament's fourth-seed secured victory with a backhand cross-court winner.

Nadal was upbeat after the match despite suffering his first semifinal defeat on clay since falling to Carlos Moya in Croatia 12 years ago.

"It was not a negative week. I feel my tennis is close, closer than a month ago to the level I want to arrive again," said Nadal, who underwent surgery to remove his appendix in November.

"I have to be happy the way I played that first set. I got tired too early today but these kinds of things can happen."

Fognini will play David Ferrer in Sunday's final after the Spaniard overcame Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 7-5, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

"Everybody knows he (Nadal) is the best on this surface," Fognini said. "I don't have words to describe this moment. I am super happy. It's the best match I have won so far in my career."

Meanwhile top seed Sara Errani of Italy will play Slovakia's Anna Schmiedlova in the women's final.

Errani progressed by defeating Sweden's Johanna Larsson 7-5, 6-3 while Schmiedlova beat Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Endi