Rafael Nadal felt he produced one of his better recent performances during his third-round loss to Feliciano Lopez at the Western and Southern Open.

The 14-time grand slam champion was beaten 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7-3) in Cincinnati on Thursday as his unconvincing hard-court form continued.

For Nadal, it meant his record on the surface this year is 11-6 ahead of the US Open, which starts on August 31.

But the Spaniard said he had performed as expected during his loss – his second in a row to his countryman.

"I was there during the whole match with the right intensity, with the right attitude, doing the things that I have to do, trying to be more aggressive, trying to go to the net more often," Nadal told the ATP World Tour website.

"That's what I did. But I played against an opponent that he played a fantastic match, I think. He played the best match ever against me, without a doubt.

"For me it's a tough loss because I was playing better and my feelings on court were better than they were before."

Nadal was knocked out in the quarter-finals in Montreal and failed to get even that far in Cincinnati, a worrying run as he aims for a third US Open title.