Nadal knocked out of Australian Open

Fernando Verdasco stunned World No. 5 Rafael Nadal 7-6(6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 in the first round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday.

In only his second first-round loss at a Grand Slam event, Nadal fought for 4hr 41min before the inspired Verdasco won 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

Seven years ago, Nadal outlasted Verdasco in the longest Australian Open match in history: five hours, 14 minutes.

In his pomp, Nadal’s forehand was the most destructive shot in the game but he was out-powered by Verdasco, who hit an incredible 90 winners to his opponent’s 37.

“I don’t know a hundred percent the reason”, Nadal said of his inability to close out matches he once was masterful at doing to Tennis.com.

“I think I played unbelievable in the final set from that early break and I started hitting winners”, said the 45th-ranked Verdasco. But Verdasco had other plans for the fifth seed as he took the fourth set 7-6 (6-4) and forced a deciding fifth set to be played.

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“I was practising a little bit different, trying to be more aggressive”.

Olympic champion Andy Murray, the second seed and a four-time runner up, cruised through in straight sets against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. Nadal, who had beaten Verdasco to on his way to winning his own major title Down Under in 2009, led by two sets to one and then a break in the fifth before wilting as he suffered his maiden first round exit at the opening grand slam of the season.

After a disappointing 2015 in which he failed to reach a single major semi-final, Nadal was hoping to instigate a revival in Melbourne but instead endured another agonising exit.

“I will just try to keep it up and keep playing like this in the next round”. “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”.

Murray was glad to get off the court in straight sets but said the match had been more hard than the scoreline suggested.

His all-or-nothing approach was shown by his 91 unforced errors as he trailed Nadal by two sets to one in an awesome hitting display on Rod Laver Arena.

Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka enjoyed one of the most one-sided wins of her career when she “double-bagelled” Alisan Van Uytvanck 6-0, 6-0 in just 53 minutes.

In apt fashion is was a powerfully hit return that won the match for Verdasco, with the ball past Nadal before he could even react. “Was not my day, but let’s keep going, that the only thing I can do”.

Hewitt extended his farewell tournament into at least another match when he beat fellow Australian James Duckworth, setting up a clash with eighth seed David Ferrer. Earlier in the week, Australian Open officials had christened Day 2 of the tournament “C’mon Day” in honour of what could have potentially been the final match of Hewitt’s career.