Melzer stuns Nadal in Shanghai

Jurgen Melzer caused a big upset by beating world number one Rafael Nadal in the third round of the Shanghai Masters today.

The Austrian had never taken a set off Nadal in three previous matches but thoroughly deserved his 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory.

Melzer came out firing and Nadal, who made an unusual amount of errors, simply could not cope with the power and accuracy of his opponent.

The Spaniard, who picked up his seventh title of a phenomenal season in Tokyo last week, had not lost a set 6-1 for almost a year.

Normal order was restored in the second set, with Nadal upping his game while his opponent, the world number 12, began to make more mistakes.

That looked like being the turning point but Melzer was determined not to let the opportunity slip away and, after withstanding some early pressure in the decider, he broke in the sixth game.

There was controversy with Nadal trailing 2-5 and serving at match point down when another huge Melzer groundstroke forced the Spaniard into an error.

But, to the Austrian's obvious frustration, his shot was called out, and, although he successfully challenged, that gave Nadal another chance.

The 24-year-old took it to force Melzer to serve out the match, but that proved no problem as he won the game to love.

Melzer, 29, told Sky Sports: "I'm really happy. When you have match point and you've basically won the match, all the pressure falls off because I didn't hear the call.

"But then serving at 5-3 I stepped in on a backhand on the first point and that helped. It was a really good service game."

The Austrian is enjoying by far his best season and is in contention for a place at next month's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in both singles and doubles.

Melzer highlighted his run to the semi-finals at the French Open - where he was beaten by Nadal - as the key to his new-found confidence.

He added: "Once you reach the semis of a grand slam, anything is possible."