Halle (Germany), Jun 15: Top seeded Rafael Nadal was ousted from the Gerry Weber Open after falling in the quarterfinals of the grass court tournament to Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.
The eighth-seeded Kohlschreiber ended Nadal's 13-match winning streak four days after the Spaniard won a record seventh French Open title.
"It's not the time to look for excuses," Nadal said. "He played much better than me."
Kohlschreiber, the defending champion, fired eight aces in all, ending the first game with his first. He broke Nadal in the next -- after the Spaniard saved two break points -- and piled on the pressure by making it 3-0 after the third game.
"Today, from the beginning was tough for me," Nadal said.
Kohlschreiber missed the opportunity to break the 11-time Grand Slam champion again in the first game of the second set, and defended three break points to hold serve three games later, when Nadal improved to make some terrific returns.
But the German broke Nadal again in the seventh game and confirmed the break to establish a 5-3 lead before seeing out the match in 1 hour and 25 minutes.
"It was a world-class day for me," said the 34th-ranked Kohlschreiber. "In principle I did nothing wrong."
It was his first win over Nadal in nine attempts, but this was their first meeting on grass.
"It's more a tennis problem than a mental problem," Nadal said. "The transition is difficult. It depends how much time you have. Playing on grass can sometimes be a bit of a lottery."
Kohlschreiber will next meet the winner of the match between third seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and wild card Tommy Haas of Germany.
Earlier, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Five-time winner Roger Federer was playing Milos Raonic of Canada later Friday.
