2015 Wimbledon results: Rafael Nadal upset by Dustin Brown, out in 2nd round

Rafael Nadal has taken another early Grand Slam exit, falling to Dustin Brown in the second round at Wimbledon on Thursday. Brown and Nadal combined for one of the most exciting matches of the year, with Brown ultimately winning, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

One of the more impressive aspects of this matchup for Brown is that Nadal didn’t look particularly diminished. He’s obviously had his struggles of late, but Nadal was fairly on-point throughout the match, and Brown matched him shot for shot and kept up with him when the pace turned frenetic.

The first set between the two was easily the most exciting set of the this year’s tournament thus far. Brown kept up with Nadal’s pace athletically, and his shot placement was incredibly on point. He showed plenty of touch on his shots, which forced Nadal to be even more mobile than usual. Nadal is among the best at making those shots on the move, though, and it was a back-and-forth throughout. Still, Brown took that opening set 7-5.

After that, it looked like Nadal might dominate the matchup when he got out to an early lead in the second set. There were still impressive rallies back and forth, though. The two seemed to spend more time running across the court to hit shots blind than anything else. But Nadal definitely held the edge in the second set, taking it 6-3 to tie the match at one set apiece.

But Brown broke Nadal early in the third set, and he was threatening another break again when leading 4-2. That point got to deuce multiple times, but Nadal ultimately fought off a pair of breaks to hold serve. Brown held his next service game to go up 5-3 in the set, and Nadal held his serve without giving up a point in the next service game. But Brown held again on his serve, and went up two sets to one.

Brown scored another early break in the fourth set, and went up 3-1 rather quickly. He then threatened another break there, but Nadal fought him off to hold that serve. Brown’s next service game went just as quickly as the last and he went up again. Eventually, Nadal was serving with Brown up 5-3, and Brown had a double match point opportunity, but Nadal got it to deuce with a couple strong shots, including an ace. Nadal then held to force Brown to serve for the match.

Brown held serve without issue, taking the victory and a spot in the third round. Nadal, who entered this tournament coming off a quarterfinals loss in the French Open (his best tournament) was ranked No. 10 at Wimbledon.

Roger Federer and Andy Murray were both among those victorious on Thursday, having a much easier time of it than Nadal. You can find the rest of Thursday’s results here.

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