Lucky loser extends luck, upsets djokovic

INDIAN WELLS (AFP) – Qualifying lucky loser Luca Nardi scored the biggest win of his young career on Monday, stunning world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at the ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters.

The world number 123 from Italy ended the 11-match win streak of the veteran Serb at Masters events, with Nardi bettering the childhood tennis idol whose poster hung above his bed from the age of eight.

The 20-year-old was not awed by the big game of Djokovic, and broke Djokovic for a 4-2 lead in the deciding set before pounding out the victory three games later with a match point ace.

The Italian finished with 36 winners and 41 unforced errors while Djokovic had 31 errors in just under two and a half hours.

“Before this night no-one knew me,” Nardi said in an on-court interview after his win. “I hope the crowd enjoyed the game; I’m super happy with this one.”

Asked how he had pulled off the biggest win of his career, Nardi replied: “I don’t know. I think it really is a miracle. I’m a guy ranked outside the top 100 in the world and now I’m beating Novak – crazy, crazy.”

Nardi only reached the main draw in Indian Wells after a withdrawal. He had been beaten by Belgium’s David Goffin in the final round of qualifying.

Djokovic meanwhile attributed his defeat to a bad day at the office.

“He got in as a lucky loser to the main draw, so he really didn’t have anything to lose,” Djokovic said of Nardi.

“He deserved to win. I was more surprised with my level. My level was really, really bad. That’s it, these two things come together -he’s having a great day; I’m having a really bad day.”

In other games on Monday, seventh seed Holger Rune finally made it onto court after a first-round bye and a walkover in the second round against injured Milos Raonic.

The 20-year-old Dane got off and running in the event with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) defeat of Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.