World No. 9 Kei Nishikori crashed out of the Italian Open on Thursday as he suffered a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 defeat to Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in the third round.
The seventh-seeded Nishikori, coming back from a right wrist injury, lost the opening set in a tiebreaker after struggling with his first serve, a main factor in his straight-sets victory over David Ferrer in the second round.
In the round-of-16 match at the Foro Italico in Rome that lasted 1 hour, 54 minutes, Nishikori failed to generate a single break-point chance in the second set as he saw his first-serve percentage drop to 58 percent compared to 75 percent in the second round.