Wimbledon, Verdasco won his first two matches in five sets against Dudi Sela and Dominic Thiem but lost in the third round to Stan Wawrinka in straight sets. He then faced Nadal again in the first round of the Hamburg Open but was unable to record a third successive win against him and lost the match in three sets. At the US Open, he lost in the second round to Milos Raonic 6–2, 6–4, 6–7(5), 7–6(1). 2016: Fourteenth ATP title At the Australian Open, Verdasco defeated world No. 5, 2009 champion and compatriot Rafael Nadal in the first round in five sets, thus marking just his third win against Nadal in his career; additionally, he became just the second player to beat Nadal in the first round of a Grand Slam. He subsequently lost his second round match to Dudi Sela in four sets. 2017–2019: French Open Doubles semifinal, Fifteenth title, 500th career win In singles, Verdasco began the year in 42nd place, played in 25 tournaments, won 29 matches and lost 25. Among these wins, 11 were against players ranked higher than him, including 2 wins against top 10 players Dominic Thiem (6th) and Alexander Zverev (10th) while 9 of his losses were against lower ranked players. He ended his year in 34th place, having reached as high as 29th in March and as low as 43rd in August. He reached 1 final in Dubai, an ATP 500 event, where he lost to first seeded Andy Murray in straight sets. He reached 3 semifinals in Doha, Stockholm, and Båstad: In the semifinal of Doha, against second seeded and defending champion Novak Djokovic, Verdasco won the first set 6–4, and at 4–4 in the second set had 3 break points but failed to convert any. In the tie-break he led 6–2 but failed to win 5 match points and lost the tiebreak 7–9, and ultimately the match. Djokovic went on to win the tournament and defend his title. At Stockholm, he lost to defending champion del Potro in the semis; del Potro went on to win the tournament and defend his title. At Båstad, Verdasco avenged his last year loss in the final to Albert Ramos Viñolas, by defeating him in the quarterfinal; this was his 4th semifinals in 5 years, but lost to the eventual champion David Ferrer in the semis. Verdasco reached 4 quarterfinals in 2017: Paris Masters