Rafael Nadal has fallen at the quarter-final hurdle at the China Open by suffering a 7-6(7) 4-6 3-6 defeat to qualifier Martin Klizan.

The Spaniard was aiming to reach his first semi-final since returning from a wrist injury, which kept him out of action for around three months.

Both players broke serve once as a tightly-contested opening set progressed to a tie-break, and after wasting three set points, Nadal took the fourth to edge a step closer towards the last four.

Klizan was performing well against his fellow left-hander, but the Slovakian dropped serve in the third game of the second set to gift more momentum to Nadal.

However, after seeing Nadal move to within two games of the win, Klizan reeled off four games in a row to take the match into a deciding set.

The momentum appeared to be swinging back in the Spaniard's favour in the third set when he nabbed the first break point, but Klizan immediately responded with a double break, which was enough to give him the set and the match.

Klizan will play Tomas Berdych for a place in Sunday's final.