IT says a lot about the attitude of Rafael Nadal that even on a day when he was beaten in the first round of the singles, he should postpone a few days of his beloved fishing in Mallorca to help out a mate.

A few hours after his title bid at the Aegon Championships was ended by the unorthodox Alexandr Dolgopolov, the Spaniard was back on court, partnering Marc Lopez to a victory that will mean much more to his compatriot than to himself.

His 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 defeat by Dolgopolov ensured a premature end to his singles preparations but having won at Stuttgart last week, he was happy with his efforts, if not the result.

"Today I lost," he said. "I accept. I keep going. I'm going to keep practising hard. I hope to be ready to play well in Wimbledon."

Nadal saved a match point in the second set and looked on course for victory when he led 4-2 in the decider, but Dolgopolov stormed back for the upset.

"I think I didn't play bad at all," Nadal said. "I fought until the end. Had a great comeback. "Games on grass are like this. I had break-up in the third, and then he played some good points. I missed a few balls. And that's it.

"I won a tournament in Stuttgart, I have never played more than five matches before Wimbledon in the past, so nothing negative."

However he does with Lopez, Nadal said he will definitely be going home to rest and recover before getting ready for Wimbledon.

"Since the beginning of the season I have been playing some more tournaments than usual [which is] normal when you don't win that much," he said.

"But at the same time I need my periods of rest. It will be great if I can be here for a few more days and can practice a little bit more and then have a period of three days at home - then come back. That's my idea. I'm going to try my best in the doubles."

French Open champion Stan Wawrinka crushed Australia's Nick Kyrgios 6-3 6-4 while the defending champion, Grigor Dimitrov, completed a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win over 2010 champion Sam Querrey in a match held over from the previous night.

Britain's Laura Robson is set to play at Wimbledon after it was confirmed last night that she will make her much-anticipated comeback from injury this weekend in the Aegon International in Eastbourne.

17 months after her last tournament and just over a year on from surgery on her left wrist, the 21-year-old will test the waters by playing in the qualifying event on Saturday.

A hamstring injury which prevented her from playing at the French Open has healed, sources inside the Robson camp said yesterday, while the wrist "is great" and the left-hander is reportedly in excellent shape after months of training in Florida and two weeks of grass-court preparation in London.

Robson is expected be named among the wildcards for Wimbledon today, having chosen not to use her protected ranking of 58 for direct entry.