Australian Open 2016 results and bracket: Rafael Nadal, Venus Williams upset in 1st round

The second day of the 2016 Australian Open is a thing of the past and there were some major upsets in both brackets. The opening round match between fifth seed Rafael Nadal and compatriot Fernando Verdasco was considered a can’t-miss match so early on in the tournament. It ended up being one for the ages as Nadal found himself on the losing end of a five-set thriller.

Verdasco, a former top-10 player in the men’s singles bracket, came out on top in a couple tiebreak situations and ultimately downed Nadal, 7-6(6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2. Verdasco advances to the second round while Nadal now has two losses already in 2016, his first being in the finals at Qatar to Novak Djokovic, the men’s No. 1 seed.

On the women’s side, No. 2 seed Simona Halep was downed in straight sets by unseeded Shuai Zhang. It wasn’t a close competition at all, with Zhang dictating play en route to a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Another significant loss on the women’s side was No. 8 seed Venus Williams, who fell in straight sets to Johanna Konta. Williams was playing great tennis for most of last year, though obviously her sister, Serena Williams, dominates most of the discussion.

Konta won the match, 6-4, 6-2. The only other significant upset saw No. 11 Kevin Anderson falling to unseeded American Rajeev Ram.

Other than that, the top seeds who were expected to walk away with wins managed to do so. Men’s No. 2 seed Andy Murray cruised to victory over Alexander Zverev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 and players like Garbine Muguruza, Stan Wawrinka, Bernard Tomic, Milos Raonic, John Isner, Angelique Kerber and David Ferrer were all victorious.

Australian Lleyton Hewitt took a straight-set victory over compatriot James Duckworth, 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-4.

Below, you’ll find results from pertinent seeded matchups, and you can find the full results for the second day of play in Melbourne here.

No. 2 Andy Murray def. Alexander Zverev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 Stan Wawrinka def. Dmitry Tursunov, 7-6(2), 6-3 (retired)
Fernando Verdasco def. No 5 Rafael Nadal, 7-6(6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6)6, 6-2
No. 8 David Ferrer def. Peter Gojowczyk, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
No. 10 John Isner def. Jerzy Janowicz, 6-3, 7-6(7), 6-3
Rajeev Ram def. No. 11 Kevin Anderson, 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-3, 3-0 Ret.
No. 13 Milos Raonic def. Lucas Pouille, 6-1, 6-1, 6-4
No. 16 Bernard Tomin def. Denis Istomin, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
No. 18 Feliciano Lopez def. Daniel Evans. 6-1, 6-0, 6-4
Giles Muller def. No. 20 Fabio Fognini, 7-6(6), 7-6(7), 6-7(5), 7-6(1)
No. 23 Gael Monfils def. Yuchi Sugita, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2
No. 25 Jack Sock def. Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 3-6, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 30 Jeremy Chardy def. Ernests Gulbis, 7-5, 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-3, 13-11
No. 31 Steve Johnson def. Aljas Bedene 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3)
No. 32 Joao Sousa def. Mikhail Kukushkin, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3

Shuai Zhang def. No. 2 Simona Halep, 6-4, 6-3
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza def. Anett Kontaveit, 6-0, 6-4
No. 7 Angelique Kerber def. Misaki Doi, 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3
Johanna Konta def. No. 8 Venus Williams, 6-4, 6-2
No. 9 Karolina Pliskova def. Kimberly Birrell, 6-4, 6-4
No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky def. Katerina Siniakova, 6-3, 7-5
No. 15 Maidson Keys def. Zarina Diyas, 7-6(5), 6-1
No. 18 Elina Svitoliva def. Victoria Duval, 6-2, 6-3
No. 19 Jelena Jankovic def. Polona Hercog, 6-3, 6-3
No. 20 Ana Ivanovic def. Tammi Patterson, 6-2, 6-3
No. 21 Ekaterina Makarova def. Maddison Inglis, 6-3, 6-0
Johanna Larsson def. No. 29 Irina-Camilia Begu, 6-3, 6-2
No. 30 Sabine Lisicki def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-4, 6-4
Varvara Lepchenko def. No. 31 Lesia Tsurenko, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3
Barboa Strycova def. No. 32 Caroline Garcia, 6-3, 6-4