World No. 1 Rafael Nadal struggled to win the third round match at the ATP Queen's Club tournament on Thursday while the second seed Novak Djokovic suffered defeat.
The defending champion Andy Murray felt annoyed for his match being suspended in the decider.
The top seed Spaniard couldn't solve the world No. 72 Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan until taking the tiebreak 7-4 in the opening set, then lost the second set 4-6 to the big server for being broken in the first game.
Before the decider, the five-time French Open champion Nadal called the medical trainer due to a strain of his right thigh, but his movement later was unaffected and it was Nadal that broke first to lead in 5-3.
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball during the men's singles second round match against Marcos Daniel of Brazil in 2010's Aegon Championships at the Queen's Club in London, Britain, June 9, 2010. Nadal won 2-0.
Istomin, showing no sign of nerves in face of the superstar, was so calm to return a service break in the ninth game but couldn 't hold off the ace to wrap it up 6-4.
Nadal's opponent in the quarterfinals is his compatriot Feliciano Lopez, as the eighth seed beat French Julien Benneteau 6- 2, 6-4.
After the fourth seed Andy Roddick from the United States and the fifth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia were both knocked out of the grass-court competition, Djokovic suffered a defeat in the same stage.
The Serbian was lost to unseeded Xavier Malisse 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, rendering the Belgian a chance to face American Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals.
Roddick, four-time winner at the warmup event for Wimbeldon Championships, crushed to Israel's 14th seed Sela 6-4, 7-6(8) while Cilic was ousted by the 12th seed Michael Llodra from France 7-6, 6-2.
Murray, still staying in the competition, couldn't be happy at all as the match was suspended when he got the momentum.
The British top player came from one set down to level the tie against American Mardy Fish, and managed to claw his way back from 0-3 to 3-3.
At the moment, the match was suspended for bad light to gratify Fish, but Murray believed the decision was "ridiculous" and protested to the umpire.
Whatsoever, Murray hasn't lost his chance to defend his title.