INDIAN WELLS-. Luca Nardi used a combination of poise and power to surprise his childhood idol and top favorite Novak Djokovic with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory Monday night in the third round of the Indian Wells Open.
Nardi, who is 123 in the world ranking, closed his big surprise over the world number one with an ace. The 20-year-old Italian dropped his racket and put his hands to his face almost in disbelief before shaking Djokovic’s hand at the net.
Nardi set the tone early on with his hard-hitting strikes and frustrated Djokovic all night. There was a moment when the Italian was surprised by an “in” call and casually returned a shot that turned out to be a winner, which led the Serb to complain to the center judge.
And to think that Nardi was almost heading home. He entered the main draw of the tournament as a “lucky loser”, that is, a player who was one step away from qualifying, but who enters as a replacement for an injured player who abandons before the first round. In Nardi’s case, he took the place of No. 30 Tomas Martin Etcheverry and received an automatic first-round bye.
“It’s a miracle,” Nardi said in a post-match interview on the Tennis Channel. “I’m 20 years old, I’m 100 in the world and I beat Novak. Crazy. Crazy”.
Number 4, Daniil Medvedev, barely managed to defeat 29th-ranked Sebastian Korda 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, and will face Grigor Dimitrov (13).
Source: AP
