Rafael Nadal is out of the Australian Open after just one match.
Going five sets with Fernando Verdasco in Melbourne for the second time in as many contests, Nadal could not come out on top this time around. The world No. 5, who outlasted his fellow Spaniard in an epic 2009 semifinal, fell 7-6(6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 after four hours and 41 minutes.
“He was playing amazing in the last set,” Nadal assessed. “If you decide everything in one set, the opponent is ready to hit all the balls at 100 percent, then you are in trouble. He had a lot of success hitting all the balls full power in the fifth. I have to congratulate him…. He played better than me. He played more aggressive than me. He [took] more risks than me, and he won. Probably he deserved.
“But I am not happy about the way that I played the first. In the fourth I was not very bad, but he played better than me, too. I had my chances in the fourth.”
Nadal had a few highlights, too, before the match got away from him.
The 14-time major champion converts set point in the second set in amazing fashion:
at least he did this pic.twitter.com/VKQsNcv5HO
— Ricky Dimon (@BloodDimon) January 19, 2016
Verdasco blasted 90 winners to Nadal’s 39. The underdog fired 17 more winners than his opponent throughout a jaw-dropping final set–21 to four, to be exact.
“I played unbelievably in the fifth set,” Verdasco assured. “I don’t know how I did it. I closed my eyes and everything went in.”
Verdasco forehand at 2-2 in the fifth, which Brad Gilbert called “the biggest I have ever seen”:
Verdasco was just too good pic.twitter.com/EbiIfQlUsm
— Ricky Dimon (@BloodDimon) January 19, 2016
Verdasco converts match point with a forehand return winner:
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