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Latvia's top ranked tennis player Ernests Gulbis lost to the defending champion Rafael Nadal 6-1, 5-7, 4-6 in the third round of the Rome Masters on Thursday, informs LETA.

Gulbis has earned 115 ATP ranking points in Rome and next week he will return to the ATP Top 40.

Gulbis started the match very well, winning five straight games and losing just one game in the first set. The second and third sets were very close with Nadal scoring the key points to eventually win the match.

The match continued for two-and-a-half hours. Gulbis is currently ranked 46th in ATP rankings, whereas Nadal is in fifth place.

As reported, Gulbis beat Adrian Ungur (Romania) and Gianluca Naso (Italy) to qualify for the main draw of the tournament. In the first round, he defeated Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) and in the second round Viktor Troicki (Serbia).

This is the first time Gulbis plays at the Rome Masters. His best achievement in Rome is reaching the quarterfinals in 2010 where he lost to Nadal.