Lopez of Spain celebrates his victory against Spain's Rafael Nadal in Bangkok Saturday. (Reuters) NONTHABURI, Thailand: Top-ranked Rafael Nadal suffered a surprise loss in the Thailand Open semifinals Saturday, going down 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in an all-Spanish semifinal. The 53rd-ranked Garcia-Lopez became only the seventh player to beat Nadal in 2010, surprising his fellow Spaniard with an impressive string of winners and flat, wide serves - including 10 aces. “It's a difficult loss to accept,” Nadal said, openly stunned by the upset. “It's one of those matches you are going to lose once every two years.” Nadal had played Garcia-Lopez twice before and not dropped a set, and he looked on his way to another routine win when he took the first set, but the top seed paid the price for taking only two of 26 break points. Garcia-Lopez saved 16 break points in the second set to force a tiebreak, taking it 7-3, and then snatched his only break point opportunity in the fourth game of the decider. Garcia-Lopez will play his second ATP final of the season against 60th-ranked Jarkko Nieminen Sunday. “I've never beaten a No. 1 player in the world,” an elated Garcia-Lopez said. “I think this is the best victory in my career. Everything was fantastic. For the moment, I'm a bit shocked.” The 29-year-old Nieminen reached his first final of the year thanks to some sharp groundstrokes and an accurate first serve. The Finn has not dropped a set in his run to the final, including wins over No. 7-seeded Viktor Troicki in the second round and No. 3-seeded Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals. Wozniacki wins title Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki recovered from a slow start to beat Elena Dementieva 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 in Saturday's final of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Dementieva, who won here in 2006, raced to a 4-0 lead and won the first set when Wozniacki double faulted. But the World No. 2 found her game in the second set and won the match when the Russian double faulted in the final game. “Elena was playing well in the first set, getting a lot of first shots in,” Wozniacki said. The seventh-seeded Dementieva had a chance to keep the momentum in the second set when she was up 40-love in the third game but Wozniacki fought back to break and take a 2-1 lead. Wozniacki can overtake Serena Williams as No. 1 in the world rankings if she reaches the quarterfinals or better in at the China Open in Beijing next week. Golubev in final Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev upset No. 11-ranked David Ferrer of Spain 7-5, 7-6 (4) to reach the final of the Malaysian Open Saturday. The 41st-ranked Golubev, who ousted top-seeded Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals, will meet Mikhail Youzhny in the final after the fourth seed defeated fellow Russian Igor Andreev 3-6, 6-0, 6
