MELBOURNE — The more familiar shock of falling seeds added to the ructions caused by allegations of tennis corruption as former champion Rafa Nadal and highly-fancied Simona Halep both departed in the first round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Nadal arrived at Melbourne Park with high hopes of arresting his recent grand slam decline only to depart, his optimism crushed, under a barrage of winners from fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
Shortly after a dejected Nadal walked off court having tasted his first opening round loss at the Australian Open, women's second seed Halep bid farewell while another high-profile casualty was seven-times major champion Venus Williams.