Foot injury worries Nadal but Del Potro is dispatched

Nadal spent close to 10 minutes having treatment at the start of a first-set tie break before going on to take the match 7-6 (8/6) 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-4.

The second set was the first the Spaniard has lost this tournament, and he admitted he came close to calling off his title defence after the injury.

“I don’t what the problem is yet,” Nadal said.

“I will get it checked out (today). At one moment at the end of the first set I thought I might have to retire.

“I’ll have to check it because something isn’t there.”

Last night Nadal confirmed he would go for an MRI scan to assess whether there is any serious damage, and said: “I’m worried for sure.”

After coming off court, he said: “I felt something really strange when it was at 6-5 in the first set when I called to the trainer. After that the pain went down a bit and I continued to play.

“I changed the position of the foot so I was able to continue a bit with the pain.”

Mardy Fish booked a meeting with Nadal after dumping out last year’s Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych to reach the quarter-finals at the event for the first time in his career.

The American, at a career-high ranking of ninth in the world – one above long time US leading player Andy Roddick – produced a hugely impressive performance to defeat the Czech sixth seed 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 6-4 on Court Two.

Berdych beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic last year before losing to Nadal, but he has had a poor season this time around and had no answer to Fish, whose only dropped set so far has come against Robin Haase in the third round.