By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
INDIAN WELLS (AFP) — Qualifying lucky loser Luca Nardi scored the biggest win of his young career on Monday, March 11, 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 tennis idol whose poster hung above his bed from the age of eight.
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.
The Italian finished with 36 winners and 41 unforced errors while Djokovic had 31 errors in just under two and a half hours.
“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.”
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.”
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.
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.
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, earning revenge for a loss on grass last June at Queen’s Club, London.
“It feels great to finally get started,” he said after reaching the fourth round here for the first time.
“The wait is finally over, I was so eager to play, though I did get two extra practice days.”
Norway’s ninth seed Casper Ruud advanced past Arthur Fils of France 6-2, 6-4.
