Rafael Nadal has crashed out of the Australian Open after a first-round defeat to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
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Verdasco, who stunned the 14-times grand slam champion in a five-set epic, won the opening set against the Israeli but faded to lose 4-6 6-3 6-3 7-6(4).
6-2 loss was the 2009 champion’s first in an opening round at Melbourne Park and only his second first-round loss in a Grand Slam.
It was the eighth time she’s lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament and the third in Australia, where she reached the quarterfinals in her first appearance in 1998 and lost the final to her youngest sister, Serena, in 2003.
Verdasco clinched the fourth-set tiebreaker with an ace to send it to a fifth and deciding set, then after an exchange of breaks went ahead with a decisive break in the sixth game and held in the next to go up 5-2. Murray also said it was “a little bit hypocritical” for tournaments – including the Australian Open – to be sponsored by betting firms.
Fortune often plays a part in the defeat of Nadal and so it proved for Verdasco, who swung wildly at a second serve with the frame of his racquet, sending the ball cross-court to clip the line and break back to 2-2. Stepanek, 37, became the oldest man to win a match at the Australian Open since 1978 when he won his first-rounder…
Murray dispatched Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in hot conditions to move into the second round. But Verdasco reeled off the last six games to claim a memorable victory in four hours and 41 minutes.
“I have been playing and practicing great”, he said. I was closing the eyes and everything when I was coming in.
“I wanted try one more time, only one more time, yeah”, she said. “I don’t have any news because I’ve just come off the court”.
“I’m very satisfied with how I dealt with the situation”, British No. 1 Konta told reporters.
In the last three grand slams, Nadal has exited in the first round (Australian Open), third round (US Open) and second round (Wimbledon) respectively.
“I played unbelievably in the fifth set”, 32-year-old Verdasco, who will take on Israel’s Dudi Sela in round two, said.
“I kept doing it so it went well”.
There were two big upsets in the women’s draw, with No. 2 Simona Halep and seven-time grand slam victor Venus Williams losing in the first round.
Likewise, 14th seed Victoria Azarenka reminded people why she has been crowned Australian Open champion twice, wiping Belgian challenger Alison Van Uytvanck 6-0, 6-0 in a 53-minute whitewash.
“None of this seems right, but the world number five, who has been magnificent for so long and whose steady improvement towards the end of last season encouraged the view he had a chance, at least, of restoring some of his aura, constantly reminds us that sport was not meant to be fair”.
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Argentine Diego Schwartzman was forced into an early exit from the competition after he had to retire injured from his match against Australian John Millman, with him two sets to one up. I’ve lost that match.
