Fortunate loser Luca Nardi prompted a serious upset on the Indian Wells Tennis Backyard on Monday, when he beat world no.1 Novak Djokovic in three units – 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The match lasted two hours and 20 minutes.
The Italian surprised the highest seed and five-time former BNP Paribas Open champion producing a surprising show of confidence and resilience.
The 20-year-old Nardi introduced his best tennis within the first and third units to notch the most important win of his profession.
“Congrats to him, particulary in third set he performed some nice tennis. He strikes nicely, he’s very proficient. He obtained into the principle draw as a fortunate loser so he didn’t have something to lose. He performed nice and deserves to win,” Djokovic stated within the post-match interview. “I used to be extra shocked with my stage. My stage was actually, actually dangerous. I made some actually horrible unforced errors and performed defensive tennis. He performed extra free and aggressive than I did. These two issues coming collectively, he’s having an amazing day, I’m having a extremely dangerous day, and the result’s a damaging final result for me.”
Match statistics: aces (4-6), double faults (1-7), winners (18-36), unforced errors (31-41), complete factors received (93-92)
Nardi’s fourth-round opponent within the California desert shall be seventeenth seed Tommy Paul.
Picture: Profimedia
