Denis the menace as Djokovic bites dust
Defending champion ousted by Uzbek wildcard in second round
Defending champion Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Australian Open, beaten 7-6 (8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 by wild-card entry Denis Istomin in a secondround match in Melbourne on Thursday.
Istomin made the vital break in the fifth game of the deciding set. He then held service the rest of the way in the marathon 4 hour, 48-minute match .
It was the world number two’s earliest Grand Slam exit since Wimbledon 2008, when he was beaten by Marat Safin in the second round.It was also only Djokovic’s second loss to a player outside the top 100 in seven years, after his defeat to 145th-ranked Juan Martin del Potro at last year’s Rio Olympics.
No. 117-ranked Istomin, who dropped out of the top 100 last year, had never beaten a top 10 player at a Grand Slam tournament.
His only previous win in 33 matches against a top 10 player was back in 2012 at Indian Wells, when he beat No. 5 David Ferrer. Istomin, who got into the main draw as the winner of the Asia wild-card play-off in December, said it was the high point of his playing career.
“It is the biggest win for me, and it means so much,” Istomin said, struggling with the emotions of his achievement.
“So now I can feel that I can play with these guys and to be with them on the same level.”
He added: “I feel sorry for Novak. I was playing so good today. I mean, I also surprised myself today.”
Serbia’s Djokovic was bidding to win a record seventh Australian Open title and overtake Australian Roy Emerson, who won six in the 1960s.
It was a miserable start to the Grand Slam season for Djokovic, who surrendered his top world ranking to Andy Murray last year and fell to second in the world for the first time since June 2014.
Istomin played at an extraordinary level from the opening game, which took 16 minutes -signalling the impending struggle for Djokovic.
NO ESCAPE
Last year Djokovic survived an epic four-and-a-half hour five-setter against Frenchman Gilles Simon in the Australian Open fourth round, but this time there was no escape.
Istomin broke the defending champion’s serve in the seventh game before Djokovic broke back in the following game as the marathon first set went to a tiebreaker. Djokovic had two set points but it was Istomin who grabbed the set 10-8, ending an 85-minute struggle.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion had more early problems when he clutched his left hamstring after stretching for a volley in the third game of the second set, and called for the trainer at the next changeover. Istomin held two set points at 5-4 for a two-love lead but Djokovic fought them off and broke the Uzbek in the next game before levelling the match after almost two-and-a-half hours.
Istomin looked to be tiring and he dropped three straight service games as Djokovic surged back to take the third set and hit the front for the first time.
But Istomin wouldn’t go away. He broke Djokovic’s serve early in the fourth set and had a set point at 5-4, but the Serb saved it.
Istomin had control of the tiebreaker and got to 5-1 before he took the match into a fifth set with a second-serve ace on his fourth set point. He was too strong in the final set, breaking Djokovic’s serve in the fifth game and admirably handling the pressure to serve it out.
There wasn’t much I could do. She was playing without pressure, with full power. It’s always disappointing (losing), especially in the first week of a Grand Slam. AGNIEZSKA RADWANSKA
RADWANSKA OUT
Third seed and former semifinalist Agnieszka Radwanska was knocked out of the second round by Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni on Thursday, becoming the highest seed to fall in the women’s draw. The world No. 79 Lucic-Baroni left Radwanska and the Margaret Court Arena crowd stunned with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of the Pole in the late afternoon match.
SERENA ON COURSE
World No.2 Serena Williams gritted out a 6-3, 6-4 second round win in a high-quality encounter against Lucie Safarova .
The second seeded American, eyeing her seventh title here, smashed 15 aces and 35 winners.