Luca Nardi stuns boyhood idol and top-ranked Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells

Luca Nardi used a combination of poise and power to stun his boyhood idol and topseeded Novak Djokovic with a 64 36 63 win in the third round of the BNP Paribas OpenNardi whos ranked No 123 closed out his huge upset over the No 1 player in the rankings with an ace The 20yearold from Italy dropped his racket and brought his hands to his face almost in disbelief before greeting Djokovic at the netThis is a miracle Nardi said in an interview after the match on the Tennis Channel Im a 20yearsold guy 100 in the world and beating Novak So crazy CrazyAlso Read T20 World Cup 2024 You love having guys like him Ponting on Steve SmithSetting the tone early with his hardhitting shots Nardi frustrated Djokovic all evening There was a moment when Nardi was surprised by an in call and casually hit the ball back over the net It resulted in a winner and led to Djokovic complaining to the official about a potential hindranceTo think Nardi was nearly on his way home He got into the field as a lucky loser which is a player who stumbled on the final hurdle in qualifying but made it into the main draw as a replacement for an injured player who pulled out before the first round In Nardis case he stepped in for No 30 Tomas Martin Etcheverry and received a bye through the opening roundHe went on to become the lowestranked player to beat Djokovic in a Grand Slam or ATP Masters 1000 level event surpassing No 122 Kevin Anderson in 2008 in MiamiUsing a combination of aggressiveness and finesse Nardi had Djokovic the 24time Grand Slam singles champion from Serbia he grew up watching smiling and shaking his head at times in a mixture of surprise and shock Nardi was far from intimidated either answering Djokovics wellplaced shots with wellplaced returns of his ownBefore this night no one knew meiquest said Nardi who will face American Tommy Paul in the round of 16 I hope now the crowd enjoyed the game Im super happy with this oneDjokovic certainly didnt know that much about Nardi only what he gleaned watching him play He knew Nardi had a strong baseline game especially with the forehand and moved wellAlso Read Yashasvi Jaiswal wins ICC Player of Month AwardHe got in as a lucky loser to the main draw so he really didnt have anything to lose So he played great Djokovic said Deserved to win I was more surprised with my level My level was really really bad No 4 Daniil Medvedevs was just good enough as he edged No 29 Sebastian Korda 64 57 63 and will face No 13 Grigor DimitrovEarlier in the day Coco Gauff gave herself an early birthday present by beating Lucia Bronzetti 62 76 5 in the third round Gauff who turns 20 on Wednesday struggled early but found a way to hold her serve by saving 10 of 11 break points She closed out the match with a serve into the body that Bronzetti couldnt return It extended Gauffs winning streak in the United States to 18 matches a run that includes winning the title at last years US OpenBronzetti had a chance to force a third set when she took a 54 lead in the tiebreaker Gauff won the next three pointsThese days Gauff is finding ways to win when she doesnt necessarily have all her shots tuned inThe mentality is the reason why Im playing and the reason why Im being successful said Gauff who won a doubles match with partner Jessica Pegula later MondayGauff will face Elise Mertens in the round of 16 Mertens held off Naomi Osaka 75 64 Osaka played in the fifth tournament of her return after her maternity leave in 2023Twotime Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka beat 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu 63 75 to advanceOn the mens side No 7 Holger Rune played his first match of the tournament and beat Lorenzo Musetti 62 76 5 to advance to the round of 16 Rune had a bye in the first round and advanced through the second when Milos Raonic withdrew with an injury He will face No 12 Taylor Fritz the 2022 championGael Monfils won a threeset thriller over Cameron Norrie the tournaments 2021 winner in a match that took more than three hoursThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever