Verdasco hit 90 winners on Tuesday, including 41 off his forehand, to move through to the second round of Australian Open 2016.
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No. 2-ranked Murray opened with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 win over Alexander Zverev, checked to see there were no urgent calls from home – his wife is expecting their first child next month – and had to answer questions immediately about the reports.
Reflecting on his defeat, the 28-year-old said that it was a really tough match, but insisted that he did everything to claim victory, Sport24 reported.
Speaking thereafter the lost, Nadal, who had beaten Verdasco 14 times in 16 meetings said: “Everybody now tries to hit all the balls”. The Chinese is ranked at 133rd and this win takes her to the second round of a grandslam tournament, which is now her best performance in women’s singles at any grandslam.
He, however, added that his real mission was to make his rivals play with hard positions in the game, so that the chance of their success would be less.
The 29-year-old failed to win a major for the first time in 10 years in 2015, leading commentators such as seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe to call for Nadal to seek fresh ideas away from Toni, who has coached him for his whole career.
There were no such problems for Andy Murray though.
“I think I’m feeling in the best shape body-wise, spirit-wise, everything-wise”, said Azarenka, who has recovered from injury and a bout of depression following her split with musician Redfoo.
“I just started hitting winners, I don’t know how”, Verdasco told reporters.
Verdasco certainly finished the match in style.
The fifth-seeded Sharapova won the 2008 Australian title and has lost three finals at Melbourne Park, including last year’s decider against Williams.
After world number one Novak Djokovic said he was once offered $200,000 to throw a match, Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis said he had been approached on Facebook. I’m like, ‘you know I didn’t play again after that?
Rafa Nadal was heading back to the drawing board on Tuesday after another startling early loss at a Grand Slam deflated his earlyseason optimism and left him questioning his strategy.
In the fifth set, Nadal jumped all over Verdasco, landing an early break. I was hitting winners.
“Tennis is a lovely (sport)”, said Raonic, after winning his first-round match.
“It was very tough”, said Sela about failing to serve out the match. You play against a player that has good potential and he’s able to hit the ball so hard and take risks, then you are under pressure the rest of the match.
This was a repeat of their epic 2009 semi-final which Nadal prevailed in five, and this match would go the full distance again, although the outcome was different as Verdasco exacted his revenge. At Wimbledon, Nadal lost to a qualifier in the second round. “I can play defensive or offensive, but if you stay in the middle, at the end of the day, you are doing nothing”.
“He also started playing a little less strongly, so I started coming inside the court”. No players have been named yet, with Verdasco understood to be the first to address allegations against him head on.
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Hewitt, who is retiring after his 20th Australian Open, sent his compatriots into a frenzy when he wrapped up the match with a trademark lob to set up a clash with eighth seed David Ferrer.
