LONDON: Rafael Nadal suffered a shock first round exit from the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen’s Club as the Spanish star was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4 by unheralded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov on Tuesday.

Nadal’s dismal defeat against the world number 79 is the latest in a growing list of lacklustre performances in a troubled 2015 campaign for the former world number one.

The 14-time Grand Slam winner was beaten at the French Open for only the second time in his glittering career when Novak Djokovic won their quarterfinal clash in Paris.

As a result, Nadal’s ranking has plunged to 10th — his lowest position for a decade — and to add insult to injury he will now head to Wimbledon, which gets underway later this month, with renewed questions about a decline that hit another low with this setback in west London.

It was the second time this year Nadal had lost to an opponent outside the top 50 after his January defeat to world number 127 Michael Berrer.

Nadal, back at Queen’s for the first time in four years, wasn’t expected to have any problems with Dolgopolov after the confidence booster of winning the grass-court tournament in Stuttgart last week — his first title on the surface since lifting the Wimbledon crown five years ago.

He even had Jose Mourinho in his corner as the Chelsea manager sat courtside just behind Nadal’s uncle and coach Toni.

Yet it was Dolgopolov who forced the pace and the 26-year-old from Kiev secured the first break in the second game, unfurling a spectacular cross-court forehand winner on the run.

Dolgopolov came into the tournament on a three-match losing streak, but he had won his last meeting with Nadal — at Indian Wells last year — and continued to dominate from the baseline as he closed out the set.

Earlier, French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka gave short shrift to Nick Kyrgios’s claims that his 6-3, 6-4 victory was the result of the Australian’s physical and mental fatigue.

The Swiss second seed swept through his first round clash in just 49 minutes to set up a second round meeting with big-serving South African Kevin Anderson.

But, while Wawrinka was on top form, emerging star Kyrgios attributed his poor performance to an illness and home sickness after a lengthy spell on the road.

Meanwhile, defending Queen’s champion Grigor Dimitrov moved into the second round with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against 2010 winner Sam Querrey.

Nishikori moves up

In Halle, Germany, Japanese second seed Kei Nishikori is into the second round at the grasscourt Halle Open after battling past Austria’s Dominic Thiem 7-6, 7-5.

Nishikori, who recently reached the French Open quarterfinals at Roland Garros, came through in straight sets but was made to work extremely hard by the 21-year-old, who’s beginning to make a name for himself.

Thiem won his first ATP title on clay in Nice last month and the danger signs were there for the Japanese when the Austrian had three set points with Nishikori serving at 5-6 down in the opener.

But the US Open runner-up held his serve to force a tie-break, which he took 7-4 to move into a one-set lead.

The second set was also a close encounter until 25-year-old Nishikori — who’s chasing a 10th ATP title after wins in Memphis and Barcelona this year — broke late on to secure his 35th win of the season.

He faces German wild card Dustin Brown in round two.

Elsewhere at Halle, seventh seed Bernard Tomic was dumped out after losing in straight sets to American Steve Johnson.

Australia’s Tomic, who’s won two ATP Tour titles, went down 6-3, 7-6(7/4).

Eighth seed Ivo Karlovic survived a test against Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo to come through in three sets.

The Croat lost the opener on a tie break 7-4 before recovering to take the next two sets in a 6-7(4/7), 6-4, 6-4 victory.

There was bad news though for two-time champion Tommy Haas, the 2009 and 2012 winner was beaten in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 by Italy’s Andreas Seppi.