Spain’s Fernando Verdasco has lost to Italian Fabio Fognini in a first round upset at Wimbledon.
The eighth-seeded Verdasco was beaten 7-6 (9), 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4 by the 80th-ranked Fognini, who sits 71 places below the 2009 Australian Open semifinalist.
It is the earliest exit which the Spaniard, playing in his 29th consecutive Grand Slam, has made in a major since bowing out in the first round of the French Open in 2005.
This was the first time Verdasco, who made his Wimbledon debut in 2003, has not played on grass in the lead-up to this event.
Verdasco had made the round of 16 at the All England Club in three of the past four years.
