Verdasco, who took Nadal to an epic five-hour 14-minute match seven years ago, overturned a two-deficit to advance to the second round of the first Grand Slam of the year, winning over the “King of Clay” 7-6(6) 4-6 3-6 7-6(4) 6-2.
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“It’s tough, but at the same time, I know I did everything that I can to be ready for it”, said Nadal after the match.
The fifth seed, who failed to win a grand slam title previous year for the first time in a decade, lost the last six games as world number 45 Verdasco unleashed a series of explosive forehands to take his place in the second round.
“You can not be in the middle of being offensive or defensive, because it is obvious that finally you don’t have a consistent strategy, then you are lost”, Nadal said. “Let’s keep going. That’s the only thing”.
Verdasco is to face Dudi Sela in the second round after the Israeli defeated German Benjamin Becker 6-1, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
“I wasn’t able to do much damage with my forehand, so I was hitting forehands and he was able to keep hitting winners”, Nadal said.
Nadal and Halep were not the only seeds to be ejected from the tournament. British number one Johanna Konta upset Venus Williams in straight sets in the same section as Halep.
Even though the opening two sets stretched for more than two hours, Nadal seemed likely to prevail for much of the match.
In 2016, she’s 0-2 after also losing in a warmup tournament at Auckland.
I didn’t see Rafael Nadal lose live the other night at the Australian Open first round, but I caught it on the DVR replay. Usually if my opponent wants to hit a victor, he is going to have to take a big risk.
“I understand that in sport results come first and if you have to make a change, you have to do it”, Toni Nadal told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope on Wednesday.
Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, seeded third, saw off Anett Kontaveit of Estonia with a 6-0 6-4 win, while seventh seed Angelique Kerber progressed with a 6-7 7-6 6-3 victory over Misaki Doi.
“In the fourth set I started serving better than the second and third”.
“I’m more excited than nervous now”, Murray said of the pending arrival.
French Open champion Wawrinka was leading 7-6 (2), 6-3 when his opponent Dmitry Tursonov retired with what appeared to be an upper leg injury.
“It was an incredible moment to be in the final of this event again”, said Sharapova, who played her first-round match on Margaret Court Arena, one of three covered stadiums at Melbourne Park. “You have to be proactive with things like this and go and speak to the players rather than them reading about it in the newspapers or listening to it on the TV or the radio”.
The governing bodies for tennis rejected the claims, and highlighted the fact that five players and an official had received life bans after investigations from the Tennis Integrity Unit, which was set up in 2008.
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Murray, like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, thought authorities could be doing more to combat the potential for corruption. Murray also said it was “a little bit hypocritical” for tournaments – including the Australian Open – to be sponsored by betting firms.
