World number five Rafael Nadal was sent crashing out of the Australian Open first round by fellow Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco in an epic five-set match on Tuesday.

Verdasco won the thriller 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 in four hours, 41 minutes to hand 14-time Grand Slam winner Nadal only his second ever first-round defeat at a major tournament.

World number seven Angelique Kerber survived a huge scare Tuesday from Japan's Misaki Doi, pulling herself back from the brink of defeat to make the Australian Open second round.

The German, who was forced out of the Sydney International with a gastrointestinal illness last week, saved a match point in a second-set tiebreaker before digging deep to win 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.

Andy Murray Tuesday urged tennis authorities to be proactive in the fight against corruption after match-fixing claims hit the sport -- and blasted a betting company's sponsorship of the Australian Open.

After the BBC and BuzzFeed reported top players, including Grand Slam title-winners, were suspected of match-fixing but never punished, Murray said the fight against corruption must be transparent.

Steph Curry scored 35 points as the Golden State Warriors dished out the heaviest home defeat of LeBron James' career with a 132-98 pummeling of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.

The eagerly anticipated rematch between the reigning NBA champion Warriors and last year's beaten finalists turned into a night to forget for James and the Cavaliers as Golden State ran riot.

Moto GP star Valentino Rossi confirmed he will end his career with Yamaha but called on teammate Jorge Lorenzo to show him "respect" in what could be the Italian's 15th and final season.

Nine-time world champion Rossi missed out on the 2015 world title by five points to Lorenzo after the Spaniard won the final race of the season in Valencia in controversial fashion.

Novak Djokovic opened his Australian Open title defense with a straight-sets win, before going to the defense of his sport as reports of match-fixing overshadowed the first day of the season-opening Grand Slam.

Djokovic had a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Chung Hyeon of South Korea at Rod Laver Arena on Monday, immediately after women's defending champion and No. 1-ranked Serena Williams started her bid for a seventh Australian title with a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 34-ranked Camila Giorgi.

Katie Ledecky was barely in the pool when American swim great Michael Phelps was asked about the precocious teenager who seems to mow down world records at will.

"It's always something special when she gets in the water," Phelps said with an eye toward the timing board.

San Antonio stretched its franchise-record unbeaten streak this season to 24-0 by routing Texan rival Dallas 112-83 on Sunday.

The result opened a 13-game gap between the top and second teams in the NBA's Southwest Division, and meant the Spurs were now only 1-1/2 games behind Golden State for the Western Conference and overall league lead.

Real Madrid's second straight five-goal performance under new coach Zinedine Zidane came at the high price of losing Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to injury on Sunday, while Luis Suarez scored a hat trick to lead Barcelona's 6-0 demolition of 10-man Athletic Bilbao.

As the two powerhouses got goals from their trios of star strikers, Atletico Madrid quietly churned out a 3-0 win at Las Palmas to retain its provisional lead of the Spanish league.

Rafael Nadal admitted Saturday he faces a "very, very dangerous" Australian Open first-round clash against Fernando Verdasco with memories still fresh of their epic 2009 semi-final duel.

At five hours and 14 minutes, that battle seven years ago was then the longest match in the tournament's history with a shattered Nadal showing incredible resilience to win 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (1/7), 6-4.