( CNN ) -- Rafael Nadal , the man who stood on top of the tennis world after winning his ninth French Open title last weekend , was brought back to earth with a bump Thursday . The world No.1 , so dominant on the clay at Roland Garros , was beaten in the first round of the ATP grass-court event in Halle , Germany , by a player ranked 84 places below him . German Dustin Brown required less than an hour to win 6-4 6-1 on the grass to send Nadal crashing out of the tournament . The Spaniard , playing his first match on grass since he was stunned in the opening game of last year 's Wimbledon , appeared to struggle with the transition . At Wimbledon 12 months ago , Nadal was beaten by Czech Lukas Rosol who was ranked 100 at the time in a five-set thriller . And any hopes he would be given the chance to warmup for a return to SW19 were given short shrift by home favorite Brown . Brown had only ever beaten one top-10 player , John Isner , and this result ranks as his best yet . Nadal was n't the only star to falter Thursday -- Andy Murray , who is set to start the defense of his Wimbledon title later this month , was beaten at Queen 's Club in London . Murray was beaten by veteran Czech Radek Stepanek 7-6 6-2 in his second match since appointing former women 's No . 1 Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach . The 27-year-old , who won the Queens title in 2009 , 2011 and 2013 , had won his past 19 matches on grass . `` I have only got myself to blame that I lost the first set , '' the Scot told the ATP website . `` I do n't know how many set points I had , but quite a lot of them were on my serve . `` On this surface especially you should n't really be losing sets like that . For me , that 's what 's disappointing really about the match . Then , unfortunately , got broken in the first game of the second set . I could n't quite get it back . '' The 35-year-old Stepanek 's reward is a quarterfinal clash with South African Kevin Anderson . Meanwhile , seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer survived a scare in Halle before booking his place in the quarterfinals with a 6-7 6-4 6-2 win over Joao Sousa . The Swiss ace , who has won this tournament on six occasions , will face Taiwan 's Yen-Hsun Lu for a place in the semifinals . `` It was slightly frustrating at times clearly , but nevertheless I served well and kept on doing my thing , '' said fourth-ranked Federer , who lost in the last 16 at Roland Garros . `` It was important to stay calm and actually I think it gives me more confidence winning this way . `` I had to stay calm , fight through the match and find a way and then the last set and a half were much better . So , I 'm actually pretty happy now . ''
Rafael Nadal beaten in opening round of the event in Madrid . French Open champion loses to world No . 85 Dustin Brown . Andy Murray defeated at London 's Queen 's Club . Wimbledon champion defeated in straight sets by Radek Stepanek .