MONTE CARLO, Principality of Monaco: World number one Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Monte Carlo Masters in the last 16 on Thursday following a shock 6-4, 7-5 defeat by Britain’s Dan Evans.
Djokovic, the Monte Carlo champion in 2013 and 2015, was broken five times by the 33rd-ranked Evans and suffered his first loss of the year, having won the Australian Open for the ninth time in February.
Evans, who dumped out this month’s Miami Open winner Hubert Hurkacz in the previous round, will play 11th seed David Goffin for a place in the semifinals.
Goffin beat US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) earlier in the day.
An out-of-sorts Djokovic produced an uncharacteristic 45 unforced errors against Evans, who hadn’t won a tour-level match on clay since April 2017 before this week.
“To be honest this has been one of the worst matches from my side I can recall in the last few years,” said Djokovic.
“I felt awful on the court overall. Nothing worked. Just one of those days.
“It was just an awful performance. I can’t take any positives away from this match. It definitely leaves a bitter feeling exiting the court this way.”
NADAL ON SONG
On Wednesday, Rafael Nadal, encountered less resistance in brushing aside Federico Delbonis 6-1, 6-2 on his delayed return after injury since losing in the quarterfinals in Melbourne.
Nadal took just 81 minutes to send world number 87 Delbonis packing, with Grigor Dimitrov waiting for him in the next round.
Nadal is in the hunt for his 12th title in the Principality ahead of his pursuit of a 14th French Open crown at Roland Garros next month and what would be a record 21st Grand Slam.
In his first match since defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Australian Open quarterfinals, Nadal struck 16 winners to beat Argentina’s Delbonis.
“It was a good start, always good to come back to competition with a victory,” said the 34-year-old.
“I think I played a solid match and I hope to keep going.”
Fifth seed Alexander Zverev eased past Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-3, while Miami semifinalist Andrey Rublev made short work of Italian qualifier Salvatore Caruso, winning 6-3, 6-2.
Fabio Fognini, the 2019 champion, defeated Australia’s Jordan Thompson 6-3, 6-3 to also reach the last 16.
The tournament was not held last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. — AFP
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