HALLE, Germany — Rafael Nadal was knocked out in the second round of the grass-court Gerry Weber Open Thursday, losing 6-4, 6-1 to German wild card Dustin Brown. The world No. 85 broke Nadal's serve at the fifth attempt to win the first set, and he pulled off two audacious lobs in succession to break the Spaniard again early in the second. Nothing Nadal tried seemed to work in his first match since winning his ninth French Open title. He had a first-round bye at Halle. Brown raced ahead to win in just under an hour, and will next face compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarterfinals. Roger Federer began his grass-court preparations for Wimbledon by coming from behind to beat Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-2 earlier. Sousa saved all five break points he faced before taking the first set in a tiebreaker, but the second-seeded Federer raised his level in the next two sets to win the second-round match and move into the quarterfinals. He will next play Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun, who defeated Croatia's Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3). Murray falls to Stepanek In London, Andy Murray was denied his 20th successive win on grass when he was beaten 7-6 (10), 6-2 by Radek Stepanek in the third round at Queen's Club Thursday. Murray failed to take advantage of eight set points after leading the first-set tiebreaker 6-2, and Stepanek survived to convert with his second set point. A break to lead 1-0 in the second set put Stepanek firmly on the road to victory, and a further break to lead 5-2 left him serving for only his second win over Murray in seven meetings. Second-seeded Tomas Berdych overcame solid resistance from Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, winning 7-6 (2), 6-4. Berdych will next face Feliciano Lopez after the Spanish left-hander defeated Frenchman Kenny De Schepper 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) in a match with no breaks of serve. There was victory, too, for seventh-seeded South African Kevin Anderson who edged Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4). Top seed Stan Wawrinka, the reigning Australian Open champion, routed former Queen's winner Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-2 in only 50 minutes. Bulgarian fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov defeated Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 and will face Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov, who advanced when Jarkko Nieminen retired in the second set. Date-Krumm downs champ In Birmingham, Kimiko Date-Krumm, the 43-year-old Japanese who is the tour's oldest player, halted Daniela Hantuchova's title defense Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Aegon Classic, a Wimbledon warmup event. The most crucial phase of her startling 6-4, 6-0 success was the 10th game, in which Hantuchova made a push to recoup the early loss of a service game. But once that was denied her - Date-Krumm moved sharply forward and put away a smash - Hantuchova's standard fell rather limply. She next plays not the second-seeded Samantha Stosur, but her Australian compatriot Casey Dellacqua, whose 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over the former US Open champion was the third in three meetings between them. There is a feeling that Sloane Stephens, the second youngest player in the top 20, might take a significant step this week. The 21-year-old Stephens has never reached a WTA Tour final but her 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-1 win over Alison Riske, a fellow American who has reached two semifinals here, carried her within two wins of achieving that. The third-seeded Stephens next plays Zhang Shuai of China. — Agencies
