Rafael Nadal  reacts during his match against Dustin Brown at the ATP Gerry Weber Open tennis tournament in Halle, western Germany, yesterday.

AFP/Reuters

Spanish world number one Rafael Nadal suffered a shock second round defeat at the hands of German world number 85 Dustin Brown on the grasscourts of Halle on Thursday. 

The right-handed Mallorca native, fresh from his ninth French Open title last Sunday, crashed 6-4, 6-1 at the hands of the lanky Brown who is still looking for his first ATP singles' title. 

The 1.96m Brown, who has won two doubles titles, picked up the biggest win of his career on the back of 11 aces and a winning first service percentage of 83%.

Nadal, meanwhile, forced just one break point against his opponent, which he failed to convert, while Brown broke three times on his way to victory in just under an hour. 

Awaiting Brown in the quarter-finals is compatriot and 2011 Halle champion Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Earlier, Roger Federer got his Wimbledon preparations fully under way, but he looked out of sorts before finally edging Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-7 (8/10), 6-4, 6-2 in a second round tie.

Playing for the first time since losing to Ernests Gulbis in the last 16 of the French Open, the six-time former winner of the German tournament started brightly but was soon on the backfoot against the improving Sousa.

There were no breaks of serve in the first set and it was Sousa who dominated the tie-break clinching it on his fourth set point.

Federer looked frustrated at times, but the match turned on the seventh game of the second set when Sousa's level suddenly dipped allowing the Swiss great to pounce and secure his first break.

From then on it was all Federer with a break of serve in the first game of the deciding set sending him safely on his way into the last eight.

"I struggled a bit on return during a set and half," said Federer. "Afterwards, it was better, more variation on second serve.

"It was slightly frustrating, but important to stay calm. Maybe I got more confidence winning this way than 6-4, 6-4.

"When I came here (Saturday) to start practice it was so-so, but now it's better. For me, it doesn't take a lot of time to get used to the grass."

Meanwhile, Andy Murray’s hopes of recreating the joyous British celebrations after winning Wimbledon last July did not look too promising yesterday as he suffered a surprise third-round exit at the Aegon Championships.

The manner of his 7-6 (10) 6-2 defeat by Czech Radek Stepanek would have done nothing to boost the British number one’s confidence as he squandered eight set points in the opening set before tamely surrendering the second.

The defeat snapped the world number five’s 19-match winning streak on grass, a sequence that started in 2012 with his run to Olympic gold in London.

New coach Amelie Mauresmo, a former Wimbledon champion herself, kept a poker face as the match headed towards a disappointing conclusion but she would have noted the challenge that lies ahead over the next 10 days before Murray opens Centre Court proceedings at the All England Club on June 23.

Murray’s dropshots were off target, often falling short of the net, his backhands kept misfiring and there seemed to be a never-ending stream of forehand errors flying off his racket.

If such errors prove costly against a player he had beaten in five of their six previous meetings, Murray’s chances of overcoming rivals such as Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Federer at the grasscourt major look rather perilous.