20-year-old Luca Nardi played the match of his life and eliminated the world #1 in Indian Wells. He defeated Novak Djokovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in a third-round match of the competition.
Thus, for only the second time in his career, the winner of 24 Grand Slam titles has suffered a defeat by a "lucky loser" - the first was in Vienna in 2020 against another Italian - Lorenzo Sonego. Nole returned to Indian Wells for the first time in five years but was shocked by the 123rd-ranked Nardi.
The Serbian was unable to get into a rhythm in the first set, but after play resumed it looked like he would take control. He equalized the score, but in the third part he met a very serious resistance from his opponent. The Italian is the lowest ranked tennis player to beat the Serbian at the Masters tournament. Before the match, the youngster admitted that Djokovic is his idol. The 20-year-old Nardi described what happened as a real tennis miracle.
A tennis player who had only 4 victories at the ATP level so far, did not allow Nole to reach a break point in two of the three sets and ended the streak of the Serbian legend of 11 consecutive victories at Masters tournaments, and in his next match he will meet the representative of the hosts Tommy Paul. /BGNES
