Verdasco 5-Set Comeback in Round 1 at Wimbledon

21st ranked in the world Fernando Verdasco pulled off a close win today against Radek Stephanek in a five-set marathon earlier today.  Stephanek had no trouble manipulating the court and taking control of the game and took the first two sets in his favor. Verdasco quickly fell behind, but some light sparked in his game entering the third set. The Spaniard rallied back, picking up the mess he had just left behind. He went on to win the third set 6-3, and continued to hit rather well, compared to the previous two sets.

The fourth set was truly a nail biter. Both Verdasco and Stephanek were on serve at 6-6, leading to a tiebreaker. Late in the tiebreaker at 6-5 match point for Stephanek, Verdasco pulled of a beautiful passing shot, saving himself from being eliminated. He had already disappointed the crowd weeks earlier at the French Open in Spain, where he lost early in the third round. He went on to win the fourth set 7-6. At 2-2 in sets, both players were once again even in terms of scoring. Verdasco however, had the momentum, winning the last two sets. Stephanek didn't seem to be bothered, holding serve and keeping the score close. Wimbledon rules state that the last set has to be won by a margin of two games, not points, so therefore the two players would go into extended matchplay. Fortunately for both players, they did not have another Isner-Mahut incident and Verdasco pushed through to win the 5th set 9-7. Verdasco, once ranked in the single digits, has been awfully quiet this year at tournaments. We have still yet to see Verdasco win a major, but the 27 year-old still has some energy left. He is set to play Robin Haase on Wednesday.