ROME: Rafael Nadal suffered only his second defeat in 105 matches on clay when he lost 7-5 6-1 to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round of the Rome Masters. The loss is a blow to the Spaniard with the French Open starting on 25 May. Elsewhere, Serbia''s Novak Djokovic, the Australian Open champion, eased through with a 6-4 6-0 win over Belgium''s Steve Darcis. But seeds David Nalbandian and David Ferrer were both knocked out. Argentine Nalbandian, the seventh seed, lost an exciting match against Spain''s Nicolas Almagro 6-4 7-5. Spanish fifth seed Ferrer won the first set against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic but ended up losing 4-6 6-2 6-1.