Nadal goes down in doubles, will face Muller in first Indian Wells singles match

Rafael Nadal lost his first match at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday evening. Fortunately for the mental health of his legion of fans, it did not come in singles. Nadal and Fernando Verdasco came out on the short end of a 3-6, 7-5, 10-8 thriller against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in front of a packed house in Stadium 2.

“(There were) a bunch of A-list celebrities out there,” Mike noted. “It was pretty cool. We were watching the big screen when we were sitting down on changeovers and see Mike Tyson, Larry Ellison, Hillary Schwank. Our friend Kaley Cuoco was out there. She’s considered an A-lister. It was a great atmosphere just right from when we walked out. It’s kind of a special court. We love walking out, playing the 6:00 match on that court.”

The Bryan Brothers almost did not love the way it ended. After recovering to take the second set after dropping the first, they just barely managed to survive a roller-coaster of a super-tiebreakers. The Americans surged to an 8-2 lead only to give every bit of the advantage back. Nadal and Verdasco reeled off six points in a row to level things at 8-8, only to see Nadal turn in a costly double-fault on the penultimate point. The Bryans took care of their next service point and clinched victory when Nadal sent a forehand long.

Amazing point:

“Verdasco plays doubles every week,” Bob commented. “I have to say we were coming up on playing 20-plus times against him. He has strategies against us, obviously. And Nadal, he never takes a point off whether it’s singles or doubles. You have to respect the guy for that. You know, he doesn’t go out there…like sometimes singles guys can be a little bit flatfooted. From the coin toss he’s bouncing around and he’s ready to go.

“You know, you’re not going to find him playing any loose points. We knew he was going to compete hard from the beginning. In that way there sometimes can be a little different than the normal guys.”

Nadal won’t have a day off in between matches because he is scheduled for singles for the first time this fortnight on Sunday. Up first for the world No. 5 is a fifth career ATP-level meeting with Gilles Muller. The head-to-head series stands at 3-1 in favor of Nadal, but they have not faced each other since the 2011 U.S. Open (Nadal won in straight sets in what has been their only hard-court encounter to date). Muller’s lone victory over the 14-time Grand Slam champion came via a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 decision at Wimbledon in 2005.

Muller booked his spot in this showdown by beating Victor Estrella Burgos 7-5, 6-3 on Friday, while Nadal is hoping to bounce back from an alarmingly poor run on South American clay last month.