Nadal loses a shoe in nasty on-court mishap

World No.1 Rafael Nadal has suffered a bizarre mishap at the China Open, ending up without a shoe after a nasty fall.

Nadal had to save two match points to survive the first round clash, seeing off France's Lucas Pouille in three sets.

He dropped the first set 6-4 and also dropped a shoe at one stage.

Nadal appeared to slip on a line as he was running around to play a forehand shot, taking a bad tumble.

The Spaniard twisted his ankle and saw his shoe come flying, before hitting the deck hard.

He didn't look too pleased after the incident, questioning the umpire about the condition of the court.

It's actually not the first time this sort of thing has happened to Nadal, the World No.1 suffering a similar mishap at Indian Wells earlier this year.

Pouille came within a whisker of shocking Nadal on Monday, but with the Beijing crowd backing him on the outdoor hard court, Nadal held his nerve when twice staring defeat in the face and fought back to win a second set tie break 8-6.

The pair headed into a final-set shootout and again Pouille refused to buckle, Nadal getting the critical break of serve in the 11th game before serving for the set and match 7-5.

with AFP