Rafael Nadal starts his Hamburg campaign against Fernando Verdasco

Rafael Nadal takes on Fernando Verdasco in Round 1 at the Hamburg Open

World No. 10 Rafael Nadal will look to get back to wining ways on clay when he faces his compatriot Fernando Verdasco in the first round of the Hamburg Open.

Nadal, who suffered a shock second round loss to Dustin Brown at Wimbledon, is aiming for a first clay title in Europe this season. The 14-time Grand Slam champion’s best result on the European clay swing was a runner-up finish to Andy Murray at Madrid Masters.

Verdasco will pose a threat to Nadal, who is looking for his third title of the season after his wins in Buenos Aires and Stuttgart. Verdasco trails Nadal 2-13 in the head-to-head, but those two wins came in their last two matches.

The 31-year-old got the better of Nadal on the clay courts of Madrid in 2012 before ousting his compatriot in Miami this year.

Nadal is returning to Hamburg Open after beating Roger Federer in the 2008 final.

"I am very happy to be back in Hamburg, I haven’t been here since 2008 so it's great to be back in such a nice city. I have great memories about this tournament,” said Nadal. “I think probably defeating Carlos Moya in 2003 was a very important match for me at the time but also I remember very well the match against Novak in 2008 which was very emotional.”

Here are some interesting first round matchups at Hamburg:

Tommy Robredo Vs Alexander Zverev

Andreas Seppi Vs Martin Klizan

Borna Coric Vs Roberto Bautista Agut