No. 117 pulls upset, ousts No. 2 Djokovic
MELBOURNE, Australia — It started badly for Novak Djokovic, who needed 24 serves, six break-point saves and 15 minutes merely to hold his first game in the second round.
This was not the close-toinvincible Djokovic whom fans were used to seeing at the Australian Open, where he has won a record-tying six titles — five in the previous six years.
In his earliest loss at a Grand Slam tournament since 2008, Djokovic lost 7-6 (8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Thursday to 117thranked Denis Istomin, a 30year-old wild-card entry from Uzbekistan.
“All the credit to Denis for playing amazing. He deserves to win,” Djokovic said of their four-hour, 48-minute match. “He was the better player in the clutch moments . ...
“I was not pleased with my performance overall, but I have to congratulate my opponent. Whenever he needed, he came up with a big serve, big play.”
Djokovic hadn’t dropped a set to Istomin in six previous matches. Djokovic then lost the 85-minute first set in a tiebreaker but seemed to get the momentum back, only for Istomin to finish stronger.
Istomin’s only previous win in 33 matches against top-10 players was in 2012 versus thenNo. 5 David Ferrer.
“It is the biggest win for me. It means so much,” Istomin said.
Serena Williams, who — like Djokovic — was ranked No. 2 and is a six-time Australian Open champion, kept her chase for an Open-era record 23rd major title on track with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Lucie Safarova.
After winning a rematch of the 2015 French Open final against Safarova, Williams will play fellow American Nicole Gibbs in the third round.
Third-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska didn’t last much longer than Djokovic, losing her second-round match to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 6-2. Radwanska reached the semifinals in Melbourne last year; LucicBaroni hadn’t won an Australian Open match since 1998 until her first-round win this week.
Among those advancing were U.S. Open finalist Karolina Pliskova, WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulkova, 2016 Australian Open semifinalist Johanna Konta, No. 14 Elena Vesnina, No. 16 Barbora Strycova, former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 22 Daria Gavrilova, representing Australia’s last hope in the women’s draw.
Djokovic was the only seeded men’s player to lose on a long day capped by ninth-seeded Rafael Nadal’s 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 win over 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis.
Nadal will play No. 24 Alexander Zverev next. Others advancing included No. 3 Milos Raonic, No. 6 Gael Monfils, No. 8 Dominic Thiem, No. 11 David Goffin, No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 15 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 18 Richard Gasquet.
In Friday play, five-time finalist Andy Murray advanced to the fourth round for the ninth straight year, beating Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
Defending champion Angelique Kerber of Germany won the first eight games and went on to beat Kristyna Pliskova 6-0, 6-4. Kerber will play American CoCo Vandeweghe, who beat former semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 earlier Friday.