Matteo Arnaldi recorded a 6-3 victory, 6-4 against Novak Djokovic, the fourth seeded, in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday.
Arnaldi, from Italy, pulled five aces and saved four of the five break points to win the match in 1 hour and 41 minutes.
Djokovic, champion of Grand Chelem 24 times, lost three consecutive games. The Serbian came across Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic in the Miami final, then lost against Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in his first Monte Carlo match.
“This is my idol, it has always been,” said Arnaldi about Djokovic. “I was just happy to be able to play it. I never played him, I practiced myself with him. To play it on a scene like this, it was already a victory for me. He is not at his best right now, so I came on the court to try to play my best tennis and win and it happened, so right now, I don’t even know what to say.”
Arnaldi took advantage of the 32 unl forced errors of Djokovic.
“I was just trying to join a little at first, trying to make him mistakes,” said Arnaldi. “Then, once it starts, you start to feel better, the tension moves away a little. He gave me a little in a few games. It is sure that it helped me that I broke him right away, so I said to myself:” Okay, it’s a good start “and after that, it was a climb. I started playing better and I think it became a very good game.”
Also Saturday, Alex de Minaur, sixth seed, experienced a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Lorenzo Sonego in Italy. The Countryman of Sonego, Lorenzo Musetti, 10th seeded, experienced a better fortune with a 7-6 victory (3), 6-2 against Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina.
Stefanos Tsisipas of seventh seeded has overcome a first set trip to mark a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory against Jan-Lennard Struff from Germany.
Canada Denis Shapovalov, who heads the 29th, covered a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kei Nishikori in Japan.
Tomas Machac, nineteenth seeded, and Jiri Lehecka, 26th seeded – both from the Czech Republic – and the 32nd seeded Sébastien Baez of Argentina all fell into three sets.
Jacob Fearnley of Great Britain displayed a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory against Macha, his compatriot Brit Cameron Norrie won a 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory against Lehecka and Bosnia and the victory of Herzegovine over Baez. Dzumhur will face Arnaldi in the next round.
– field level media