No. 5 Nadal loses epic vs. Verdasco; Murray, Muguruza advance on Day 2

Australian Open 2016 Day 2: Andy Murray defeats Alexander Zverev, Garbine Muguruza tops Anett Kontaveit, Johanna Konta upsets Venus, Americans get big wins and more news from Melbourne.

Author:
Jamie Lisanti
Publish date:
Jan 18, 2016

Catch up on all of the action, news and results from Day 2 at the 2016 Australian Open on Tuesday that you may have missed while you were sleeping.

Verdasco upsets Nadal in another epic in Melbourne

In a rematch of their 2009 semifinals match at the Australian Open, which lasted for five hours and 14 minutes, Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco once again put on a show for the Melbourne crowd on Tuesday. The two left-handed Spaniards battled for four hours and 41 minutes in another five-setter. But unlike their last match in '09, where Nadal won 6–7(4), 6–4, 7–6(2), 6–7(1), 6–4 to advance to the finals, the 32-year-old Verdasco summoned an incredible effort to defeat No. 5-seed Nadal 7–6(6) 4–6, 3–6, 7–6(4), 6–2.

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After Nadal got early break in the fifth set, Verdasco reeled off six straight games to win the decider and upset his Spanish rival in the opening round. Verdasco hit 90 winners to Nadal's 37 on the match. He also hit 91 unforced errors to Nadal's 38 and had 182 total points, while Nadal had 180. The loss was only Nadal's second first round Grand Slam loss of his career (Wimbledon 2013).

"The match is a tough loss for me obviously...especially because is not like last year that I arrived here playing bad and feeling myself not ready for it," Nadal said after the match. "This year was a completely different story. I have been playing and practicing great and working so much. You know, is tough when you work so much and arrives a very important event and you're going out too early."

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No. 2-seed Murray, No. 3-seed Muguruza ease into second round

Andy Murray had no trouble with 18-year-old German Alexander Zverev, beating him 6–1, 6–2, 6–3. Murray never gave Zverev a chance to break through in the match, hitting 28 winners to Zverev’s 23 winners and 20 unforced errors to his opponent’s 43 unforced errors. Zverev was unable to break Murray, while the No. 2 seed converted six break points.

Musings from Melbourne Day 2: Madison Keys toughs out a win

Sports gambling consultant Scott Ferguson addresses match-fixing

2016 Australian Open Daily Data Visualizations