Rafael Nadal bowed out in the Australian Open first round as fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco came from behind to win 7-6 (8/6), 4-6 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-2.
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The second seed finally got a break in the fifth game and looked to be clawing herself back into the match at 2-4, but she lost focus as sweat poured off her and Zhang pounced again to take the set.
World No. 133 Zhang Shuai played the best tennis of her career to dismantle No. 2 seed Simona Halep on Margaret Court Arena, 6-4, 6-3, in 78 minutes.
Disillusioned by her struggles on the tour, the Australian Open could have been Zhang Shuai’s last grand slam appearance but the Chinese qualifier found a reason not to quit on Tuesday when she sent second seed Simona Halep packing. “I need to be ready to play very good tennis if I want to go through”. The opening round match between fifth seed Rafael Nadal and compatriot Fernando Verdasco was considered a can’t-miss match so early on in the tournament, and it ended up being one for the ages as Nadal found himself on the losing end of a five-set thriller.
But in fairness to Nadal’s most recent victor, it’s worth noting that Verdasco needed 90 winners over five sets to best Nadal, who hit 37 winners and 38 errors on Monday.
Last year was the first year since 2004 that the 14-time Grand Slam champion failed to win a Grand Slam title.
“When the draw came out and I saw who I was playing, I thought ‘I just hope I stay out there more than an hour, ‘” Konta said after the match.
Rising Spanish star Garbine Muguruza beat Estonian debutante Anett Kontaveit 6-0 6-4 in one hour exactly – and immediately set her sights on dethroning Serena Williams in the final.
This win will serve as a deserved revenge for Verdasco who in the semi finals of the 2009 edition lost to Nadal in another gruelling contest.
“But when they are in, you’re playing unbelievable”.
No. 2-ranked Murray and other top players, including Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, say authorities could be doing more to combat the problem. I was playing an incredibly great player.
The 26-year-old Zhang was dominant from the off against Halep, who has now fallen at the first hurdle three times in six visits to Melbourne.
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Irina-Camelia Begu (29) was defeated 6-3 6-2 by Johanna Larsson, while Lesia Tsurenko (31) and Caroline Garcia (32) also bade farewell to Melbourne for another year having lost to Varvara Lepchenko and Barbora Strycova respectively. But I’m just happy with how I played today. Two early-round upsets at Grand Slams were especially worrisome: at Wimbledon he bowed out in the second-round to Germany’s Dustin Brown; at the U.S. Open Italy’s Fabio Fognini knocked him out in the third round.
