Novak Djokovic’s bid for a fourth Madrid Masters title is over after he was crushed 6-3 6-4 within the second spherical by Italian Matteo Arnaldi.
It was a second profession win in opposition to a top-five participant for Arnaldi, 24, who was going through the Serbian fourth seed for the primary time.
“He is my idol, he is at all times been, so I used to be simply glad that I might play him,” Arnaldi stated.
“To play him on a stage like this was already a victory for me.
“However he isn’t at his greatest proper now so I got here on court docket to attempt to play my greatest tennis and win and it occurred, so proper now I do not even know what to say.”
Three-time champion Djokovic, 37, made 32 unforced errors in opposition to an opponent who introduced a sequence of pleasant photographs out of the bag all through.
It meant a 3rd straight defeat for the 24-time Grand Slam winner, who’s looking for a one hundredth profession title. He additionally misplaced in his opening match in Monte Carlo earlier this month, after being crushed within the Miami Masters ultimate in March.
Additionally progressing to the following spherical with Arnaldi are British duo Cameron Norrie and Jacob Fearnley.
British quantity three Norrie, who’s recovering from sickness, began slowly in opposition to Czech Jiri Lehecka earlier than profitable 2-6 6-4 6-0.
British quantity two Fearnley equally misplaced his first set earlier than overcoming one other Czech in top-20 seed Tomas Machac, reserving his passage to the following spherical with a 1-6 6-3 6-2 victory.
