<p>While Rafael Nadal continued his impressive comeback to reach the BNP Paribas Open final, Novak Djokovic made a shock exit in Saturday’s semifinals as his winning streak of 22 matches came to an end. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The top-seeded Serb squandered a 3-0 lead in the final set before losing concentration and the match, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro, on a sweltering afternoon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. <br /><br />Djokovic, a twice champion here, was broken twice in that third set as Del Potro booked his place in Sunday’s final against world number five Nadal, who overcame Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5 in a semifinal of high quality. <br /><br />“It happens,” a gracious Djokovic told reporters after losing for the first time since his defeat last October to big-serving American Sam Querrey in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris. <br /><br />“All the credit to my opponent today. He deserved to win because he was more composed in the important moments and he played the right shots. I didn’t deserve to win today. You know, whenever I had chances, in the second or third sets, I throw them away with some unforced errors. My movement was poor, and I congratulate to my opponent.”<br /><br />Earlier, twice champion Nadal made light of his seven months out last year due to a knee injury as he outplayed the sixth-seeded Czech. <br /><br />The Spanish left-hander, who returned to the ATP circuit only last month, broke his opponent once to take the opening set, then won a tense second set to improve his record this year to a career-best 16-1. “For me this is totally unexpected to be in the final,” smiled Nadal after winning the last four games to come from 3-5 down in that second set. <br /><br />“But here we are today, and I’m very happy about all what happened the last month, especially the last three weeks.</p>
<p>While Rafael Nadal continued his impressive comeback to reach the BNP Paribas Open final, Novak Djokovic made a shock exit in Saturday’s semifinals as his winning streak of 22 matches came to an end. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The top-seeded Serb squandered a 3-0 lead in the final set before losing concentration and the match, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro, on a sweltering afternoon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. <br /><br />Djokovic, a twice champion here, was broken twice in that third set as Del Potro booked his place in Sunday’s final against world number five Nadal, who overcame Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5 in a semifinal of high quality. <br /><br />“It happens,” a gracious Djokovic told reporters after losing for the first time since his defeat last October to big-serving American Sam Querrey in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris. <br /><br />“All the credit to my opponent today. He deserved to win because he was more composed in the important moments and he played the right shots. I didn’t deserve to win today. You know, whenever I had chances, in the second or third sets, I throw them away with some unforced errors. My movement was poor, and I congratulate to my opponent.”<br /><br />Earlier, twice champion Nadal made light of his seven months out last year due to a knee injury as he outplayed the sixth-seeded Czech. <br /><br />The Spanish left-hander, who returned to the ATP circuit only last month, broke his opponent once to take the opening set, then won a tense second set to improve his record this year to a career-best 16-1. “For me this is totally unexpected to be in the final,” smiled Nadal after winning the last four games to come from 3-5 down in that second set. <br /><br />“But here we are today, and I’m very happy about all what happened the last month, especially the last three weeks.</p>