Nadal flops again to bow out of ATP Finals

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Nikolay Davydenko of Russia during their ATP World Tour Finals tennis match in London, November 25, 2009.

LONDON (Reuters) - World number two Rafael Nadal lost 6-1 7-6 to Russian Nikolay Davydenko on Wednesday to become the first player to exit the ATP World Tour Finals.

After losing both of his Group B clashes in straight sets, the Spaniard has no chance of progressing any further in the elite eight-man event, even if he beats Novak Djokovic in his final round-robin match on Friday.

The Spaniard looked a shadow of the man who was rated as the world's best player until four months ago and spent more time shaking his head in frustration than producing winners during a lopsided first set.

Davydenko hushed the 17,500 fans crammed into the O2 Arena by leaping to a 4-2 lead in the second set, and despite a spirited fightback from the Spaniard, the world number six secured the win with a blazing forehand winner.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar; editing by John Mehaffey)