regarding the filling out of the roster. "You know how

BARCELONA, Spain -- Top-ranked Rafael Nadals clay-court struggles worsened Friday as his 41-match winning streak at the Barcelona Open ended with a three-set loss to Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals. Adidas NMD R2 Suomi . Nadal was looking for his ninth title in Barcelona but lost 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, a week after going out in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters to David Ferrer. Nadal, widely considered the greatest clay-court player of all time, hadnt lost in Barcelona since his debut as a 15-year-old in 2003, although he missed the tournament in 2010. He had not dropped a set here since the 2008 final. The 20th-ranked Almagro converted his second match point, smashing a forehand down the line for his first career victory over his fellow Spaniard on the 11th try. "I had a lot of opportunities in the second set," Nadal said. "I didnt take advantage of break points, so credit goes to him." After failing to convert any of his five break points in the second set, Nadal missed a return in the tiebreaker to give Almagro a 6-5 lead. Almagro followed up with a crosscourt forehand winner to level the match and end Nadals streak of 44 straight sets at the tournament. Both players were steady on serve until an exchange of breaks made it 4-4 in the third, and Nadal then sent a shot long to be broken again and give Almagro a chance to serve for the match. Nadal set up two straight chances to break back, but hit a forehand long and then sent a smash into the net with Almagro out of position. Nadal then saved the first match point when Almagros backhand flew wide. But Almagro used a serve-and-volley to save a third break point of the game before Nadals long return set up the second match point. Nadal hadnt been eliminated this early in back-to-back clay-court tournaments since 2004, when as an 18-year-old he also failed to get past the quarterfinals in Stuttgart and Bastad. "This is an important win for my career," said Almagro, who celebrated wildly. Almagro will face Santiago Giraldo in Saturdays semifinals after Philipp Kohlschreiber retired with an injury while trailing 6-4, 4-3. Earlier, Kei Nishikori of Japan and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia overpowered opponents to set up a semifinal meeting. The fourth-seeded Nishikori continued his good run since returning from a groin injury with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic of Croatia, while the ninth-seeded Gulbis dismissed Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-4. Gulbis saved all five break points against Gabashvili, who had knocked out the fifth-ranked Ferrer. Adidas Alphabounce Suomi . The English Football Association had charged the German right back with violent conduct after retrospectively reviewing video evidence of an incident that was missed by match officials at Craven Cottage on Saturday. Myydään Adidas NMD R1 . The Spanish champions decision not to sign a defender during the January transfer window may have backfired after Valencia took advantage of a lethargic, uninspired effort by its hosts at the Camp Nou, where former Spain coach Luis Aragones -- who previously coached the Catalan side -- was honoured after his death on Saturday. http://www.nmdhalvalla.com/adidas-deerupt-halvalla.html . - Suspended Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Justin Blackmon has voluntarily checked into a treatment facility and seems to be doing well. MIAMI -- LeBron James went first. Dwyane Wade followed a few days later. And now Chris Bosh has made it a clean sweep. The Big 3, for now anyway, are free. And Pat Riley will soon have the chance to make the Miami Heat even better. Bosh told the Heat on Sunday that he, like James and Wade, will be exercising the early termination option in his contract and forgoing the final two years on his Miami deal -- making him a free agent. The move was not unexpected, and gives the Heat a gigantic amount of financial flexibility to shop with when the free-agent window officially opens at midnight Tuesday. Boshs decision was the last domino that the Heat needed to fall in order to free up the biggest amount of money possible heading into free agency. "Chris is one of the most versatile and dynamic big men in this league, and he has been an instrumental key to our championship success over the last four seasons," Riley, the Heat president, said in a statement released by the team. "We look forward to meeting with Chris and his agent in the coming days to discuss keeping him in Miami for many years to come." Riley expressed similar sentiments when James opted out Tuesday and Wade exercised his option Saturday. "I like it here," Bosh, who averaged 16.2 points this past season, told The Associated Press this month. "Its Miami. Enough said. People are dying to get here." Like James, Bosh could have made $20,590,000 this coming season, and $22,112,500 in the 2015-16 season. Wade was due to make slightly less in each of those years, but between those three and Udonis Haslem -- who did not exercise a player option to make $4.6 million next season -- thats about $66 million in salary that Miami could have been locked in to paying if these decisions went another way. Instead, the thinking seems to be that inn order for the Heat to get better, players knew they needed to give Riley room to work. Adidas Eqt Suomi. "Being able to have flexibility as a professional, anyone, thats what we all would like," James said earlier this off-season, shortly after the finals. All three will be free to sign elsewhere, but theres no indication yet that theyll even look at other clubs -- and if they agree to new deals with the Heat, the team would almost certainly have more than enough financial freedom to upgrade a team that has been to the NBA Finals in each of the last four seasons, winning two championships. With the NBAs salary cap expected to be somewhere around $63.2 million for next season, the Heat will have tons of spending power -- though much of that, they hope, will go right back to keeping James, Wade and Bosh together. The luxury tax threshold should be around $77 million next season, and perhaps up to $81 million for the following year. Reserve guard Norris Cole has a guaranteed contract for just over $2 million for next season, and little-used centre Justin Hamilton has a partially guaranteed deal that could wind up being worth $816,000. Everyone else from the team that lost to San Antonio in five games in this seasons finals either will be a free agent, or in Shane Battiers case, has retired. Among other key Heat free agents: Ray Allen has indicated he would think about returning, point guard Mario Chalmers is expected to listen to other teams but said late in the season that he enjoys Miami, and forward Chris Andersen said hes prepared to play the waiting game. Andersen said last week that he expects to hear what James, Wade and Bosh will do before Miami makes any decisions regarding the filling out of the roster. "You know how it goes, man," Andersen said. "Big money goes first." ' ' '