Struggles continue

Djokovic searching for answers after 3rd straight loss

KEY BISCAYNE — Novak Djokovic walked onto Stadium Court at the Crandon Park Tennis Center on Friday afternoon with a big smile and an enthusiastic greeting for the cheering his arrival.

A little more than an hour later, the six-time Miami Open champion and former World No. 1 player was left searching for answers after his third straight loss, a 6-3, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Frenchman Benoit Paire, who controlled the match from the start and forced Djokovic into 19 unforced errors.

The loss came just 12 days after Djokovic was knocked out of Indian Wells by qualifier Taro Daniel in his openinground match at the BNP Paribas Open.

That match in Indian Wells, Djokovic’s first since he underfans went a “small medical intervention” on his problematic right elbow marked Djokovic’s worst ATP Masters 1000 loss since 2008 when he lost in the second round on Key Biscayne.

Friday’s loss to Paire may not have been that dramatic, but it was still upsetting, particularly with Djokovic at times struggling on both his serves and returns.

“I’m trying, but it’s not working. That’s all. That’s all it is. I mean, obviously I’m not feeling great when I’m playing this way,” Djokovic said. “Of course, I want to be able to play as well as I want to play. Just it’s impossible at the moment. That’s all. I lost to a better player. … I felt I started the match well, first six games, then I just ran out of gas.”

Paire, who entered the Miami Open coming off a first-round loss to World No. 231 Mitchell Krueger at Indian Wells, made just 43 percent of his first serves in a three-set win over Mischa Zverev on Wednesday.

Against Djokovic, he had nice aces, six coming in the opening game. He broke serve four times on Friday, including in the final game of the match.

“He was serving well. I just wasn’t able to break him down,” Djokovic said. “He was just coming up with the good shots at the right time. It happened very fast. … I’m just in general trying everything I can. You know, it is what it is. I’m not at the level that I used to be. I’m aware of that. I just have to obviously believe in myself and hopefully it will come.”

Also seeing her run on Key Biscayne come to an end Friday was 22-year-old Naomi Osaka, who entered her second-round match against fourth-ranked Elina Svitolina fresh off a win over her childhood hero Serena Williams on Wednesday.

Osaka, who had won eight consecutive maindraw matches and notched wins against the likes of Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Karolina Pliskova and top-ranked Simona Halep en route to winning the Indian Wells title, admitted after her 6-4, 6-2 loss she felt sick throughout the match and was nauseous during her warm-up.

She was compelled to play, though, after beating Williams on Stadium Court earlier in the week.

“I mean, she played really good,” Osaka said of fourthranked Svitolina. “I tried to play the best that I can. Other than that, I can’t really say much. I didn’t really feel that well today, so I’m just happy it was at least a little bit competitive.”

Other big names on Stadium Court did fare better than Djokovic and Osaka during Friday’s day session, but it wasn’t always easy.

Eighth-ranked Venus Williams had to fight back from deficits in both sets of her 7-5, 6-4 win over qualifier Natalia Vikhlyantseva.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams trailed 2-5 in the first set before rallying and in the second, she was down 0-3 Tickets: Parking: Schedule: Matches today start at 8 a.m. TV: Tennis Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News before winning six of the last seven games to take the match before dancing off the court and into the player’s lounge.

“She didn’t play like the 54th-ranked player in the world,” Williams said. “It was really only one break, so getting that break back was huge.”

Williams moves on to Sunday’s third round where she will face 29th-seeded Kiki Bertens, who advanced with a three-set win over Varvara Lepchenko.

Also advancing Friday were, on the men’s side, second-seeded Marin Cilic, 14th-seeded John Isner and 20th-seeded Milos Raonic.

On the women’s side, ninth-seeded Petra Kvitova and 11th-seeded Johanna Konta both advanced, while 16th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe was upset by qualifier Danielle Collins 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.