Australia Open: Nadal knocked out in first round

Down 0-2 in the final set, World No. 45 Verdasco dragged himself off the canvas with a barrage of booming forehand winners, breaking Nadal twice to move to the brink of victory.

Tuesday’s sequel on Rod Laver Arena mirrored their clash on the same court seven years ago when Nadal prevailed in five hours 14 minutes, the longest Australian Open match at the time, before going on to beat Roger Federer in the final.

Rafael Nadal crashed out of the Australian Open first round after a five-set thriller against Fernando Verdasco on Tuesday, increasing fears about his ability to add to his 14 Grand Slam titles.

In his pomp, Nadal’s forehand was the most destructive shot in the game but he was outpowered by Verdasco, who hit an incredible 90 winners to his opponent’s 37. In the latest developments, two more players said they had been targeted by match-fixers and Australian media reported that police were keeping a close eye on the tournament’s first round. Verdasco said after the match.

Verdasco’s fearless approach started to test Nadal’s nerves in the fourth, and both men swapped breaks before the 2009 champion conceded the set in another tie-break.

“I think I could have done a little bit better job of closing the match out a little bit sooner, because I did have chances to go up a double break”.

Though he failed to serve out the set with a 5-4 lead in set four, Verdasco rallied back from 0-30 down at 5-6 by winning four straight points, then played a courageous tiebreaker to force a decider. “A win against Rafa is an unbelievable feeling”. “It will be great if I can play against her”, said the confident Spanish world number three. Then you lose the first.

“I felt pretty good”, he said. “It’s tough when you work so much and arrive at a very important event and you go out too early”.

It is only the second time in Nadal’s career that he has exited the first round in a Grand Slam. I started coming in, started to be aggressive, and I’m so happy.

“I played unbelievably in the fifth set”, Verdasco gleamed.

“Sometimes if you do what I did today, you can put all the balls outside and it’s like “this guy’s insane”.

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.

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.

Present day, both Spaniards met again and relaunched yet another lengthy match but this time the roles were reversed, with Verdasco pulling off an upset and serving Nadal an early exit. You know, because I don’t believe the players are allowed to be sponsored by betting companies, but the tournaments are.