Lucky loser Luca Nardi caused a major upset at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Monday, when he beat world no.1 Novak Djokovic in three sets – 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The match lasted two hours and 20 minutes.
The Italian stunned the top seed and five-time former BNP Paribas Open champion producing a stunning display of confidence and resilience.
The 20-year-old Nardi brought his very best tennis in the first and third sets to notch the biggest win of his career.
“Congrats to him, particulary in third set he played some great tennis. He moves well, he is very talented. He got into the main draw as a lucky loser so he didn’t have anything to lose. He played great and deserves to win,” Djokovic said in the post-match interview. “I was more surprised with my level. My level was really, really bad. I made some really terrible unforced errors and played defensive tennis. He played more free and aggressive than I did. Those two things coming together, he’s having a great day, I’m having a really bad day, and the result is a negative outcome for me.”
Match statistics: aces (4-6), double faults (1-7), winners (18-36), unforced errors (31-41), total points won (93-92)
Nardi’s fourth-round opponent in the California desert will be 17th seed Tommy Paul.
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Photo: Profimedia
