Verdasco reeled off six unanswered games in the final set to stun the fifth seed, 7-6 4-6 3-6 7-6 6-2.
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The previous meeting between Nadal and Verdasco at Melbourne Park was in 2009 when the Spanish Davis Cup-winning teammates battled it out for more than five hours in an epic semi-final won by Nadal.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal reacts during his first round match against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco at the Australian Open tennis tournament at Melbourne Park, Australia, January 19, 2016.
Verdasco hit 44 winners in the final two sets against only 14 for Nadal, and when he fell behind by a break in the final set, he ratcheted it up another notch.
Nadal made the quarterfinals of last year’s Australian Open but also got booted out early in the three other Grand Slam tournaments, quarterfinals at his favorite, French Open and in the early rounds of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships (second round) and 2015 US Open (third round).
You expected Nadal to win his first-round match against 45th-ranked Fernando Verdasco, even after he dropped the first set in a tiebreaker.
“Still now they come to me telling me like how good I play seven years ago”.
Verdasco said: “I just started hitting winners”.
No. 2-ranked Andy Murray began his bid for a drought-breaking title at the Australian Open with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 win over Alexander Zverev, checked to see there were no urgent calls from home, and had to answer questions immediately about the reports.
‘To win against Rafa here in five sets after coming back from two sets down is an unbelievable feeling.
“I just think that it should be tennis that does a better job of explaining… I’m so excited” Shuai rejoiced after the match.
Murray has said he’ll leave immediately, regardless of the stage of the tournament, if his wife, Kim, goes into labor in London with their first child. It wasn’t a close competition at all, with Zhang dictating play en route to a 6-4, 6-3 victory. “So that’s the mistake for me today”. There are no balls that you can prepare the point. “It’s so important that people like him stay involved on the tour in the future and I hope that’s what’s going to happen because it’s great for tennis”.
The first slap of reality came in Doha early this month, when World No. 1 Novak Djokovic pounded Nadal in the Qatar Open final, 6-1, 6-2.
Murray also said the tours should do a better job educating players – especially younger ones – what to do in case they are approached by match fixers. He was able to keep going for big shots in a not very bad position. For the most part, the players that have defeated her in majors over the last several seasons have not been more talented players – arguably just more driven.
Murray finds it “hypocritical” authorities are trying to stamp out match-fixing run by gambling syndicates but have partnered with a major gambling company that is now advertising on the Australian Open’s show courts.
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No. 3 Garbine Muguruza needed exactly an hour to beat Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit 6-0, 6-4. But the real thing is if I am not doing that, then I am dead.
