Fernando Verdasco once deemed it the best match he had played. Five hours and 14 minutes of no-holds-barred shot-making – two Spaniards trading blows under lights on a heaving Rod Laver Arena, a shootout he would ultimately fall short in against his more decorated countryman, Rafael Nadal, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4.

On Tuesday, the pair will resume their rivalry in the round of 32 at the BNP Paribas Open. The fifth-seeded Nadal has lost three of his past five matches against the No. 29 seed but still leads their overall FedEx ATP Head2Head series 15-3.

The five-hour-plus marathon match between the two southpaws came in the semi-finals of the Australian Open eight years ago and at the time was the longest semi-final played in the tournament’s history. It is still regarded as one of the greatest matches of all time.

Nadal would go on to win back-to-back five-setters, denying Roger Federer to claim what remains his only triumph at Melbourne Park. Prior to their 2009 Australian Open epic the closest Verdasco had gone to derailing his countryman came down to two tie-break sets in respective defeats. In 2006, in the round of 16 on grass at the Aegon Championships in London, Nadal eked out a narrow 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(3) win while a round of 16 battle in the 2011 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Cincinnati also fell his way, 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 7-6(9).

Nadal would go on to win the pair’s first 13 matches in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series before Verdasco finally landed his breakthrough in the round of 16 at the ATP World Tour Madrid Masters in 2012. Nadal served for that match at 5-2 in the decider only to lose the final five games in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 result. It would be his only clay-court loss of the season.

The pair didn’t play for nearly three years until the ATP World Tour Miami Masters where Verdasco registered back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 victories over his higher-ranked compatriot with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 upset in the round of 32.

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Arguably Verdasco’s finest moment against his fellow Spaniard, however, came in the opening round of last year’s Australian Open where he exacted revenge for that harrowing defeat seven years earlier, 7-6(6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 in four hours and 41 minutes.

He clocked an astonishing 90 winners against a fit-again, though somewhat more passive Nadal on Rod Laver Arena. Trailing a break in the decider and with his back to the wall, he thumped his way through the final six games of the match.

Nadal squared their 2016 ledger with a 6-0, 7-6(9) win at the same stage of last year’s BNP Paribas Open where he saved five set points in the second set before sealing the straight-sets victory. He will again start favourite in the 19^th instalment of their rivalry on Tuesday, their ninth hard-court encounter.

Third seed Stan Wawrinka defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-3 on Monday to reach the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Wawrinka stayed perfect against Kohlschreiber, improving to 5-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. The third seed created 10 break points, converting two of them for victory in 78 minutes and finishing with a trademark backhand winner on the line. “It was a really good match. I’m very happy… I was serving well. I think I’m moving better and better, and it’s all positive so far,” Wawrinka said.

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The Swiss star is bidding to win his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown, adding to his 2014 Monte-Carlo title. Wawrinka’s best result at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden is a pair of quarter-final showings in 2008 (l. to Djokovic) and 2011 (l. to Federer).

The 31-year-old Wawrinka, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals at the start of the year (l. to Federer in five sets), goes on to face lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka, who saved one match point to upset Tomas Berdych.

“I know how he’s playing – more from the baseline, using his power. It’s going to be interesting,” Wawrinka said. “I never practise with him, so it’s going to be the first time we’re going to be against each other. So I’m sure it’s going to be a good match.”

Belgium’s David Goffin edged Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(3), 6-4 in one hour and 38 minutes, saving five of the seven break points he faced in the pair’s first meeting. The 26-year-old Goffin, who made his Top 10 debut last month, improved to 15-5 on the season.

The right-hander was a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open (l. to Dimitrov) before finishing runner-up in Sofia (l. to Dimitrov) and Rotterdam (l. to Tsonga). Goffin, a semi-finalist in the desert last year (l. to Raonic), goes on to face Fabio Fognini or Pablo Cuevas.

At first glance it is a rivalry that reads heavily in Novak Djokovic’s favour, but a closer inspection of the Serbian’s encounters with Juan Martin del Potro reveals a very different state of affairs. For nearly a decade the two have waged a string of epic battles and after their respective second-round triumphs at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday, they will lock horns for a 17th time this week.

Djokovic leads the FedEx ATP Head2Head series 12-4, but five of their past six matches have gone the distance. The only match in those six that hasn’t was del Potro’s narrow 7-6(4), 7-6(2) shock win in the first round of last year’s Rio Olympic Games. It was a victory the Argentine used as a springboard to claim the Olympic silver medal (l. to Murray).

Djokovic gained revenge in their most recent outing, a high-quality 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 match in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel second round in Acapulco little more than a week ago. Read & Watch Highlights

“I have to give it my all,” said Djokovic. “That’s what it takes to beat this guy. Even though he is not ranked as high and he hasn’t played that many tournaments [he was] definitely one of the best players in the world last year, especially in the second part of the year, winning Davis Cup, silver medal for his country – beating myself – and [beating] Wawrinka at Wimbledon.

“He’s a tough player to beat. He’s a big guy, big serve, big forehand. Definitely not the draw that you like early in the tournament and that you wish for, but it is what it is.

“I have played him some weeks ago in Acapulco. Very close match. It went down to the last couple of points. I don’t expect anything less than that.”

Injuries to del Potro have surely robbed the pair of adding to that rivalry. They did not play each other for nearly three years from the 2013 ATP Finals round-robin stage, which Djokovic won, until their Rio Olympics clash.

It was a rivalry arguably stymied at its peak, with the pair duelling five times in 2013. Djokovic may have claimed the Fed Ex ATP Head2Head bragging rights that year 4-1, but four of the five encounters went the distance, including one of the greatest semi-final battles seen at Wimbledon when the Serbian emerged triumphant after four hours and 43 minutes, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-7(6), 6-3.

The pair has played once before at Indian Wells and del Potro will be hoping it proves a good omen. The Argentine claimed that battle in the 2013 semi-finals in three sets.