{"id":71315,"date":"2024-03-15T00:18:17","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T00:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/nardi-stuns-djokovic-in-indian-wells-upset-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-03-15T00:18:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T00:18:17","slug":"nardi-stuns-djokovic-in-indian-wells-upset-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/nardi-stuns-djokovic-in-indian-wells-upset-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Nardi stuns Djokovic in Indian Wells upset | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nINDIAN WELLS:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Qualifying lucky loser Luca Nardi scored the biggest win of his young career on Monday, stunning world number one Novak Djokovic<\/a> 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at the ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters.<\/p>\n

The world number 123 from Italy ended the 11-match win streak of the veteran Serb at Masters events, with Nardi bettering the childhood tennis idol whose poster hung above his bed from the age of eight.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old was not awed by the big game of Djokovic, and broke Djokovic for a 4-2 lead in the deciding set before pounding out the victory three games later with a match point ace.<\/p>\n

The Italian finished with 36 winners and 41 unforced errors while Djokovic had 31 errors in just under two and a half hours.<\/p>\n

“Before this night no-one knew me,” Nardi said in an on-court interview after his win. “I hope the crowd enjoyed the game; I’m super happy with this one.”<\/p>\n

Asked how he had pulled off the biggest win of his career, Nardi replied: “I don’t know. I think it really is a miracle. I’m a guy ranked outside the top 100 in the world and now I’m beating Novak — crazy, crazy.”<\/p>\n

Nardi only reached the main draw in Indian Wells after a withdrawal. He had been beaten by Belgium’s David Goffin in the final round of qualifying.<\/p>\n

Djokovic meanwhile attributed his defeat to a bad day at the office.<\/p>\n

“He got in as a lucky loser to the main draw, so he really didn’t have anything to lose,” Djokovic said of Nardi.<\/p>\n

“He deserved to win. I was more surprised with my level. My level was really, really bad. That’s it, these two things come together — he’s having a great day; I’m having a really bad day.”<\/p>\n

In other games on Monday, seventh seed Holger Rune finally made it onto court after a first-round bye and a walkover in the second round against injured Milos Raonic.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Dane got off and running in the event with a 6-2, 7-6 (7\/5) defeat of Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.<\/p>\n

Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev had to struggle to get past Sebastian Korda 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, prevailing in a bizarre match containing 31 break points – 15 converted.<\/p>\n

The winner was limited to just 14 winners with Korda weighed down by more than 60 unforced errors. Medvedev next plays Grigor Dimitrov.<\/p>\n

Norway’s ninth seed Casper Ruud advanced past Arthur Fils of France 6-2, 6-4.<\/p>\n

French showstopper Gael Monfils ended the run of 2021 champion Cameron Norrie, with the 36-year-old winner and the Briton playing a massive 31 break points in a match won by Monfils 6-7 (5\/7), 7-6 (7\/5), 6-3.<\/p>\n

Tommy Paul, who next faces Nardi, earned a home win with his 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Dubai champion Ugo Humbert.<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz joined him, 6-2, 6-2 over Argentine Sebastian Baez.<\/p>\n

In the women’s draw, reigning women’s Grand Slam champions Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff reached the fourth round with challenging straight-set wins.<\/p>\n

But former number one and 2018 tournament winner Naomi Osaka failed to join them, with the Japanese player eliminated 7-5, 6-4 by Elise Mertens, who now takes on Gauff.<\/p>\n

The Belgian saved three break points in the final game, advancing on her second match point which drew an Osaka error.<\/p>\n

Osaka, a four-time winner at the majors, is making her return to tennis this season after giving birth.<\/p>\n

Earlier, double Sabalenka defeated Emma Raducanu 6-3, 7-5 but double-faulted on a match point and needed three more winning chances before finally going through.<\/p>\n

“I was super-happy to close this match in two sets; the last game was tight,” Sabalenka said. “If I had lost that game it would give her emotionally much more belief and confidence – going to the tiebreak you never know, it’s 50\/50.”<\/p>\n

Gauff, who won the US Open last September as a teenager, overcame Lucia Bronzetti 6-2, 7-6 (7\/5) as she closed out victory in a tiebreaker with a minimum of drama.<\/p>\n

The US Open champion, who turns 20 on Wednesday, won her sixth straight match against an Italian opponent.<\/p>\n

“She played really well,” the winner said of Bronzetti. “But I was much better than in my last match – I’m improving with each one.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INDIAN WELLS: Qualifying lucky loser Luca Nardi scored the biggest win of his young career on Monday, stunning world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at the ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters. The world number 123 from Italy ended the 11-match win streak of the veteran Serb at Masters events, with Nardi bettering the childhood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-03-12-at-4-03-11-PM1710241569-0\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-03-12-at-4-03-11-PM1710241569-0.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t