Shock defeat topples Federer from No 1
Roger Federer’s latest reign atop the world rankings will end after the Swiss great’s shock loss to Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round of the Miami Masters.
Kokkinakis, ranked 175th in the world, needed a wild card just to get into qualifying. But he showed nerves of steel in a 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7/4) triumph over the 20-time Grand Slam champion on Saturday. He was delighted to beat a player he admires, calling Federer “such a good role model for the sport”.
“I was calmer than I thought,” Kokkinakis said of the third-set tiebreaker. “Inside I was pretty happy, I was excited, but I kept pretty calm.”
Federer, who won his 20th Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open, regained the No 1 spot in February after winning the ATP title in Rotterdam but needed to reach the quarterfinals to remain at the summit. Instead he will be replaced by Spain’s Rafael Nadal when the rankings are released at the end of the tournament.
“I deserve it after this match. That’s how I feel. Just so bad,” said Federer, adding that he “could never get to any level that I was happy with today”.
“Sometimes you have these matches,” he said. “Sometimes you find a way through. I just couldn’t get it done today.”
The 36-year-old wasted no time in announcing he would skip the clay-court season, including the French Open, just as he did in 2017 after winning titles in Indian Wells and Miami.
The 21-year-old Kokkinakis, who has already battled injuries, became the lowest-ranked player to beat a world No 1 since Spain’s Francisco Clavet was 178th when he upset top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt in the second round at Miami in 2003.
In the women’s section, world No 1 Simona Halep tumbled out, falling 3-6 6-2 6-3 to Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska. The third-round defeat comes a week after Romania’s Halep was toppled in the semifinals at Indian Wells by Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who went on to win the title in the California desert.
With the first set in hand, the mercurial Halep was clearly frustrated when Radwanska dropped just four points in the opening four games of the second to seize a 4-0 lead.
Halep reclaimed one break, but was broken again as Radwanska forced a third set, in which an early break put Halep up 2-0. The Romanian could not maintain the advantage, however, and her 44 unforced errors were too much to overcome as Radwanska won six of the last seven games to seal the victory.
Radwanska, the 2012 Miami champion, had not posted backto-back match victories since January. She next faces former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka, who rallied for a 3-6 6-4 6-1 victory over 20th-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova.
Azarenka, of Belarus, is unseeded in 2018 as she tries to get her career back on track after having taken time off to have a baby. Despite the defeat, Halep is assured of retaining the No 1 spot when the rankings are updated at the end of the tournament in Miami.
But her exit leaves the women’s field in the elite hardcourt tournament without its top two seeds after second-seeded Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki lost to Monica Puig on Friday.