What to Watch on Thursday at the Australian Open

For Rafael Nadal, 2009 isn’t walking through that door.

True to script Hewitt – in his 20th and final Australian Open – extended his farewell tour at his home Grand Slam, with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4 win.

Halep has now lost in the first round at the Australian Open three times in the past five years (2012, 2013, 2016).

MELBOURNE, Australia – For five sets and almost five hours, two chiseled Spanish left-handers went head-to-head again at the Australian Open.

Nadal led 30-0 serving at 2-5 in the final set, but four consecutive Verdasco winners, including two directly off the return of serve, ended the match, which lasted four hours and 41 minutes.

Israel’s world number 87 Dudi Sela succeeded where Rafa Nadal failed when he subdued Spain’s Fernando Verdasco to reach the Australian Open third round on Thursday.

Back in 2009, the player was “cowed by the size of the challenge in front of him”, says Briggs, noting: “Today it was Nadal, plagued by self-doubt as he never was in his pomp, who double-faulted at a critical moment in the first-set tie-break, and never quite got back on terms”.

Seven’s Summer of Tennis is in full swing and with unparalleled coverage you don’t ever have to miss a point. “I was closing my eyes and everything was coming in”. “You have to be proactive I think 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”.

“I would take out the betting”.

The 34-year-old Hewitt had said he would retire at this year’s tournament and his last singles match came Thursday when he lost in the second round to No. 8 David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.

Rafael Nadal did his best to shrug off his latest Grand Slam setback on Tuesday and pledged to fight on – despite the “crazy”, go-for-broke tennis now played by some of his rivals. “I had my chances in the fourth”. Nadal and Verdasco have a history of long, intense matches and Verdasco has inflicted more than his share of wins over Nadal. The underdog fired 17 more winners than his opponent throughout a jaw-dropping final set-21 to four, to be exact.

“The match is a tough loss for me, especially because it’s not like a year ago when I arrived here playing bad and feeling myself not ready for it”, Nadal said.

“I don’t know how I did it”.

In another epic encounter, Frenchman Jeremy Chardy booked his place in the next phase thanks to winning the final set of his match with Latvian Ernests Gulbis 13-11. However, Verdasco, who is ranked 45th in the world, has recently won over Nadal in the round of 32 stage of the 2015 Miami Masters in three sets, 6-4 2-6 6-3.

Azarenka next plays Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who has reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time with a win over the 18th seed, Elina Svitolina.

In the men’s event, Australian Lleyton Hewitt prolonged his stay in professional tennis by overcoming fellow wildcard entry and compatriot James Duckworth 7-6, 6-2 6-4. I think I played a little bit too short in the first set.