Spaniard Nadal was seeded second behind Roger Federer

The defending champion, playing in his first event since losing to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final, was beaten 6-1 3-6 6-2 by Czech Berdych.

"I can't play every week in the final," said Nadal. "I lost in the third round against a very good player."

Top seed Federer endured some difficult moments before seeing off Dmitry Tursunov 6-3 5-7 6-0.

And the Swiss star insisted he had not been thinking ahead to another match-up with Nadal.

"Honestly, I wasn't thinking of a rematch between the two of us because the road is just too long to the finals for the both of us," said Federer.

"I was happy the way I scrambled. It's just here and there I don't feel like my balance is quite right."

QUARTER-FINALS Federer v Malisse Gonzalez v Acasuso Murray v Nieminen Gasquet v Berdych

Nadal had looked like coming through against Berdych when he took the second set but the Czech broke twice in the decider to set up a clash with Richard Gasquet.

"That's the risks (you take with a lay-off)," Nadal said. "But even if I played in Bastad, Stuttgart, I could come here and still lose to Berdych."

Fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic also bowed out, going down 6-4 6-7 7-6 to Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.