BARCELONA, Spain -- Top-ranked Rafael Nadals clay-court struggles worsened Friday as his 41-match winning streak at the Barcelona Open ended with a three-set loss to Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals. Nadal was looking for his ninth title in Barcelona but lost 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, a week after going out in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters to David Ferrer. Nadal, widely considered the greatest clay-court player of all time, hadnt lost in Barcelona since his debut as a 15-year-old in 2003, although he missed the tournament in 2010. He had not dropped a set here since the 2008 final. The 20th-ranked Almagro converted his second match point, smashing a forehand down the line for his first career victory over his fellow Spaniard on the 11th try. "I had a lot of opportunities in the second set," Nadal said. "I didnt take advantage of break points, so credit goes to him." After failing to convert any of his five break points in the second set, Nadal missed a return in the tiebreaker to give Almagro a 6-5 lead. Almagro followed up with a crosscourt forehand winner to level the match and end Nadals streak of 44 straight sets at the tournament. Both players were steady on serve until an exchange of breaks made it 4-4 in the third, and Nadal then sent a shot long to be broken again and give Almagro a chance to serve for the match. Nadal set up two straight chances to break back, but hit a forehand long and then sent a smash into the net with Almagro out of position. Nadal then saved the first match point when Almagros backhand flew wide. But Almagro used a serve-and-volley to save a third break point of the game before Nadals long return set up the second match point. Nadal hadnt been eliminated this early in back-to-back clay-court tournaments since 2004, when as an 18-year-old he also failed to get past the quarterfinals in Stuttgart and Bastad. "This is an important win for my career," said Almagro, who celebrated wildly. Almagro will face Santiago Giraldo in Saturdays semifinals after Philipp Kohlschreiber retired with an injury while trailing 6-4, 4-3. Earlier, Kei Nishikori of Japan and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia overpowered opponents to set up a semifinal meeting. The fourth-seeded Nishikori continued his good run since returning from a groin injury with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic of Croatia, while the ninth-seeded Gulbis dismissed Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-4. Gulbis saved all five break points against Gabashvili, who had knocked out the fifth-ranked Ferrer. NBA Jerseys . -- Wes Welker is unlikely to suit up for Denvers game Thursday against San Diego after leaving Sundays win over Tennessee with his second concussion in four games. Cheap Jerseys . Raonic, the mens No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., needed more than three hours to overcome Frenchman Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 and become the first Canadian man into the fourth round at Roland Garros. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/. - All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked spry enough in pregame warmups Sunday for Green Bays divisional playoff game against Dallas. China Jerseys .com) - The New York Rangers hope to punch their ticket to the second round when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday for a Game 6 battle at Wells Fargo Center. Authentic Jerseys . Jim Leyland, in his eighth playoffs, has never had a starting rotation he trusts as much as the grouping of Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Anibal Sanchez and Doug Fister.BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Canada will play for gold at the under-18 womens world hockey championship. Team captain Lauren Wildfang scored in overtime Saturday to lift the Canadians to a 1-0 victory over Russia in the semifinals. Canadian coach Laura Schuler was pleased with her players poise throughout a tense game that she said was the perfect preparation for Sundays gold-medal match. "The Russians played absolutely outstanding, and I think that their level of play really forced us to bring our game to a new level, and I was really happy with that," Schuler said. "Obviously, being in such a tight game, for us we faced some adversity and it was good pressure to have before going into the gold-medal game, to face that kind of adversity, that kind of pressure." The Canadians will face the winner of Saturdays other semifinal between the United States and the Czech Republic. Canada beat the Czechs 5-0 in the preliminary round. The Canadians, who earned a bye into the semis, outshot the Russians 70-24, but couldnt put anything past Russias netminder Valeriaa Tarakanova through 60 minutes of regulation.dddddddddddd "We had numerous, numerous chances to put the puck in the net and their goalie played outstanding," Schuler said. "For us on the bench, we knew it was just going to be a matter of time before we were able to capitalize, and just really happy with the energy on the bench overall. The kids knew it, they came off each shift with smiles on their faces, like Aw, we almost had it there. I think that helped us going into overtime, just building our energy. "I was just happy with how they responded, they embraced the challenge and they just kept believing. It was great to see." Wildfang finally scored the winner 3:09 into overtime. "We were all crashing the net, and I took a shot and I just got my own rebound and it trickled in," Wildfang said. "Throughout the whole game, we stuck to our systems and I think thats why we became successful today. We didnt lose sight of the goal and we didnt lose sight of our game plan." Shea Tiley got the shutout for Canada. ' ' '