Former champion and world No. 2 Novak Djokovic was knocked out of the Sony Ericsson Open on Friday, falling 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 to Belgian Olivier Rochus in his opening match.
After two rain delays that forced organizers to reschedule some matches to yesterday, Rochus secured his biggest win since he beat then-world No. 2 Marat Safin at Wimbledon in 2002.
“He was motivated to win against somebody who’s better ranked, top player,” said Djokovic, who won the Miami title in 2007. “He didn’t have anything to lose.”
The Serb committed 62 unforced errors and nearly lost his cool during the two hour, 55 minute second round match.
SLAM
He slammed his racket during the opening game of the second set when Rochus came back from 0-40 down and after the match he left the court to jeers, but still gave the crowd a thumbs up.
“I never expected to win,” said Rochus, who won a Wimbledon juniors doubles title with Roger Federer in 1998.
“Novak, he has won a Masters Series five times; he won a grand slam, many things I have never done in my life. He is No. 2, so I think he has more experience than me,” he said.
SURPRISE
Djokovic’s loss was the biggest surprise of the day, but Spanish fourth-seed Rafael Nadal was in no mood to be upset, breezing through his match with a 6-4, 6-3 win over American Taylor Dent.
In the women’s draw, world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki also struggled through her opening match, but advanced with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.
Justine Henin beat world No. 5 Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-2 to register an eighth triumph in nine attempts against the Russian, while fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters sped through her 6-1, 6-1 win over Czech Petra Kvitova in just 55 minutes.
Serbian Jelena Jankovic and champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus also won in the women’s draw.
In late matches, Andy Roddick ousted Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-4 in a match that stretched into early yesterday morning, and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 6-3 to move on in the men’s side.
TAIWANESE
Meanwhile, in the men’s first round on Thursday, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun defeated Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4.
In the women’s doubles first round, Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan and Zheng Jie of China defeated Akgul Amanmuradova from Uzbekistan and Darya Kustova from Belarus 6-3, 7-6 (5).
However, later in the day Klaudia Jans from Poland and Vladimira Uhlirova from the Czech Republic defeated Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and Hsieh Su-wei 0-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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