Rafael Nadal Upset in First Round

© David Crosling, EPA

Nadal ousted in first round at Australian Open - Six years after Rafael Nadal beat countryman and fellow lefty Fernando Verdasco in a semifinal classic at the Australian Open, his good friend finally exacted revenge on Tuesday.

Verdasco, a 32-year-old ranked No. 45 in the world, shocked the No. 5 seed and 2009 champion Nadal in a first-round five-setter, 7-6 (76), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in four hours, 41 minutes. It’s the biggest upset of the tournament so far, trumping Venus Williams’ exit earlier in the day.

Here’s how it went down inside Rod Laver Arena:

Scoreline: Fernando Verdasco def. (5) Rafael Nadal 7-6 (7-6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2

Verdasco claimed the first set, but it appeared as though Nadal would run away with the match as he won sets two and three with relative comfort. But Verdasco righted his ship, scoring just a third win in 17 tries over the former world No. 1 who has struggled in the majors over the last 18 months. The match was reminiscent of Nadal’s 2009 five-set semifinal win between the two players.

What it means: It means no Nadal in the draw, clearing the way for No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 champion, who was due to meet Nadal in the quarterfinals, and No. 2 seed Andy Murray, who anchors this half of the draw. While Nadal hasn’t been his old self over the last two years on tour, his absence opens up the draw for a number of lurkers, including Milos Raonic, David Ferrer, John Isner and Australian Bernard Tomic.

The question looms for Nadal: Will he ever be able to find his form as a regular Grand Slam performer again? In his last six major outings, he has lost before the quarterfinals four times, including the first round here, the third round at the U.S. Open last summer and the second round at Wimbledon.

How it happened: After Nadal took a 2-1 lead, Verdasco upped the ante in the all-important fourth set, saying he honed in on his serve as Nadal lost depth and pop on his ground strokes. After failing to hold on to a break lead in the fourth set, Verdasco saw the set through with a tiebreak to force a deciding fifth.

Nadal jumped to a quick 2-0 break lead in the final set, but it wasn’t to be. Verdasco won five straight games, knocking winner after winner to take a 5-2 lead. Nadal, serving to stay in the match, let a 30-15 lead drop, and on Verdasco’s first match point he burned a cross-court forehand return winner by Nadal, sealing the win.

Key stat: Ninety-one winners for Verdasco on this day. Ninety-one! He outdid Nadal in that category by some 54 shots, Nadal hitting 37 winners of his own. Verdasco was an aggressive 25-of-27 at the net and won 72% of points on his first serve vs. 69% for Nadal. Overall, Verdasco won 182 points to Nadal’s 180.

What he said: "I just started hitting winners, I don’t know how," a smiling Verdasco said on court after the win. "I was closing my eyes and everything was going in. I just kept doing it. I tried to be aggressive. I feel happy.

"To win against Rafa here in five sets from two sets to one down is unbelievable," he added.

Reprise, reversed: This match was a reprise from the 2009 classic that Nadal and Verdasco played, a five hour, 14-minute five-setter that Nadal came through in his lone title run in Melbourne. That 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (1-7), 6-4 win for Nadal was eerily similar to this match in terms of feel and quality, but the final result was quite the opposite. It was the best Grand Slam result of Verdasco’s career to date, which helped him break into the top 10 because of it.