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Australian Open: No answers, no panic for Nadal

For just the second time in his career, Rafael Nadal was sent packing in the first round of a grand slam.

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Rafael Nadal was largely powerless.

Whether that said more about the 14-time grand slam champion or his conqueror, Fernando Verdasco, is debatable.

For just the third time in 17 meetings, Verdasco beat Nadal, coming out a 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 winner in the Australian Open first round on Tuesday.

It was the tiniest piece of revenge for Verdasco, who went down to Nadal in an epic, five-hour, 14-minute semi-final against his Spanish countryman in 2009.

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And it came on the back of a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

Verdasco's final winner count of 90 was only just shaded by his unforced errors (91), and a player in that form is hard to stop.

With it, some luck.

He got back on level terms in the fifth set after falling behind a break thanks to a mishit forehand winner crosscourt. Some form.

Verdasco hit an incredible 41 forehand winners and a couple in the deciding set were crunched at some velocity.

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That it was that wing that completed his win was fitting. Verdasco won 33 points in the fifth set – 21 via winners.

Nadal did little wrong, unable to stop an opponent taking it to another level.

For the second time this year, he has run into such a dilemma. Novak Djokovic was unstoppable in the Doha final earlier this year, albeit with a far more flawless performance than Verdasco's.

"The game is changing a little bit. Everybody now tries to hit all the balls," Nadal said afterwards.

"There are no balls that you can prepare the point.

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"Everybody hits the ball hard and tries to go for winners in any position.

"Game becomes a little bit more crazy in this aspect."

Incredibly, it was just Nadal's second first-round loss in his grand slam career and first in Australia.

Nadal looked more like himself in the second half of last year and is likely to do so as 2016 rolls on.

Write off a 29-year-old, 14-time grand slam winner at your own peril, the year is still young.

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