BARCELONA, Spain -- Top-ranked Rafael Nadals clay-court struggles worsened Friday as his 41-match winning streak at the Barcelona Open ended with a three-set loss to Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals. Eric Gordon Jersey . Nadal was looking for his ninth title in Barcelona but lost 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, a week after going out in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters to David Ferrer. Nadal, widely considered the greatest clay-court player of all time, hadnt lost in Barcelona since his debut as a 15-year-old in 2003, although he missed the tournament in 2010. He had not dropped a set here since the 2008 final. The 20th-ranked Almagro converted his second match point, smashing a forehand down the line for his first career victory over his fellow Spaniard on the 11th try. "I had a lot of opportunities in the second set," Nadal said. "I didnt take advantage of break points, so credit goes to him." After failing to convert any of his five break points in the second set, Nadal missed a return in the tiebreaker to give Almagro a 6-5 lead. Almagro followed up with a crosscourt forehand winner to level the match and end Nadals streak of 44 straight sets at the tournament. Both players were steady on serve until an exchange of breaks made it 4-4 in the third, and Nadal then sent a shot long to be broken again and give Almagro a chance to serve for the match. Nadal set up two straight chances to break back, but hit a forehand long and then sent a smash into the net with Almagro out of position. Nadal then saved the first match point when Almagros backhand flew wide. But Almagro used a serve-and-volley to save a third break point of the game before Nadals long return set up the second match point. Nadal hadnt been eliminated this early in back-to-back clay-court tournaments since 2004, when as an 18-year-old he also failed to get past the quarterfinals in Stuttgart and Bastad. "This is an important win for my career," said Almagro, who celebrated wildly. Almagro will face Santiago Giraldo in Saturdays semifinals after Philipp Kohlschreiber retired with an injury while trailing 6-4, 4-3. Earlier, Kei Nishikori of Japan and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia overpowered opponents to set up a semifinal meeting. The fourth-seeded Nishikori continued his good run since returning from a groin injury with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic of Croatia, while the ninth-seeded Gulbis dismissed Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-4. Gulbis saved all five break points against Gabashvili, who had knocked out the fifth-ranked Ferrer. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Jersey . That still leaves a big hole.You dont replace the leadership, defensive co-ordinator Billy Davis said. You just dont. Leadership is something that is earned over time. Los Angeles Clippers Shirts .com) - Tony Parker scored 17 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a comfortable 99-85 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. https://www.cheapclippersonline.com/190h-bo-outlaw-jersey-clippers.html . "Weve given ourselves now a tougher task," said Carlyle after the Friday practice, the Toronto head coach notably chipper and upbeat throughout. "But the bottom line is we just have to win our share of games [and] not worry about what anybody else is doing.PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns might be excused for their defensive lapses. They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. The Suns achieved season highs in total points, points in a half and assists, and tied their single-game best for made 3-pointers in a 129-120 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night. Their first-half point total of 79 was the most in the NBA before halftime this season and two shy of a US Airways Center record for points in a half. The only cloudy spot for the Suns was that they allowed more than 100 points for the fifth straight game. This after they sank 15 3-pointers and dished out 29 assists in a blink-and-you-missed it kind of game where neither team paid any mind to the shot clock. "Both of our teams are hard to guard in terms of how we play. Kicking it up and quick shots, and the way that both teams have guards that can really penetrate," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. "That breaks down defences when teams are good at passing the ball and shooting the ball. Sometimes there might look like there was zero defence out there, but Im sure the guys were trying." Gerald Green certainly was trying on offence. He hit 5 of 6 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 33 points. The previous high for Phoenix in any half this season was 67 points, but 63 per cent shooting, including 12 of 18 on 3-pointers in the first half, shattered the team mark. "We were making 2s and some 3s. They were making all 3s," Hawks guard Jeff Teague said. Goran Dragic added 19 points for the Suns, hearing the chants of "MVP" from the home crowd, and Marcus Morris had 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Twin brother Markieff added 21 points and eight rebounds. "Its two fast-paced teams going against each other," Green said. "We knew it was going to be like that, but I didnt know they were going to be running like that." Phoenix led by as many as 15 points late in the second quarter, even though Atlanta scored 65 first-half points, including 37 in the first quarter, the highest against the Suns in any first quarter this season. Teague had 29 points and eight assists for the Hawks, and Mike Scott added 20 points. "Its nothing we need to be super overly cautious about," Green said of the Suns defence, "but we do need to take a step back and kind of look and see what were doing wrong, especially in the first quarter. Baron Davis Jersey. " The second half saw slightly less scoring from both teams, but the Suns led 90-77 after Greens high-flying dunk over the Hawks Shelvin Mack with 7:21 left in the third quarter. The Suns lead was at 95-89 after Kyle Korver hit his fifth 3-pointer at the 3:54 mark, and down to 95-91 on a basket by Mack with 3:22 to play. Mack made it a one-point game with a layup to cap an 8-0 run, but the Suns scored seven of the last eight points of the third quarter to take a 102-95 lead into the fourth. Leandro Barbosa, playing his first game since missing the past five with a sprained toe, scored five key points in the fourth quarter to keep the Hawks at bay. The Suns never held less than a five-point lead in the quarter. A transition pass from Dragic to P.J. Tucker for a long jumper made the score 121-110 with 3:20 left in the game and essentially ended any chance for a Hawks comeback. "They shot the ball extremely well. They play with great pace, they put lot of pressure in your defence, make or miss," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "Our transition defence wasnt good enough." The Hawks have lost 11 of their last 12 games. The Suns havent lost two straight games to the Hawks since the 1991-92 season. It took Korver less than two minutes to continue his NBA-record streak of at least one made 3-pointer in a game. His long-range shot at 10:29 of the first quarter gave him 127 straight games with a made three-ball. Korver made six of seven 3-pointers to finish with 18 points. NOTES: Newly acquired power forward Shavlik Randolph made his Suns debut Sunday. He played 10 minutes and scored two points off the bench. ... Hornacek said guard Eric Bledsoe, who is coming back from knee surgery earlier this season, looked good in 5-on-5 action in practice recently. Bledsoe hasnt played since Dec. 30. The Suns want Bledsoes conditioning to return to game level before allowing him to play, which could keep him out for another two weeks. ... Budenholzer is a native of Holbrook, Ariz., in northeastern Arizona, and had family and friends at Sundays game. ... Hawks F Paul Millsap missed his fourth straight game with a right knee contusion. ... C Mike Muscala, signed late last week, made his Hawks debut and played 19 minutes. He had four points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. ' ' '