Rafael Nadal Out Of Australian Open

Rafael Nadal has crashed out of the Australian Open after a first-round defeat to Fernando Verdasco in Melbourne.

Nadal was beaten in the opening stage of the tournament for the first time after slumping 7-6 (8/6) 4-6 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 to his fellow Spaniard. Nadal would not have welcomed his early meeting with Verdasco after losing two of their last three contests, and he dropped the opening set on a tie-breaker but the fifth seed appeared to have stamped his authority on the match when he comfortably collected the next two sets. Verdasco's fearless approach started to test Nadal's nerves in the fourth, and both men swapped breaks before the 2009 champion conceded the set in another tie-break.

Verdasco, who fired 41 forehand winners in a total of 90 outright winners, said afterwards: “I just hit everything. I think I played unbelievable in the fifth set from the break. I just started hitting winners. I don't know how. I was closing the eyes and everything when I was coming in. I kept doing it, so it went well”.