Djokovic out of Monte Carlo after 'awful' display

MONTE CARLO • World No. 1 Novak Djokovic exited the Monte Carlo Masters in the last 16 yesterday following a shock 6-4, 7-5 defeat by Britain's Dan Evans, who secured his first career win over the 18-time Grand Slam champion.

Djokovic, the Monte Carlo champion in 2013 and 2015, was broken five times by his 33rd-ranked opponent and suffered his first loss of the year, having won the Australian Open for the ninth time in February.

Evans, who dumped out Miami Open winner Hubert Hurkacz in the previous round, will play 11th seed David Goffin for a place in the semi-finals.

The Belgian beat fifth seed Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) earlier in the day.

An out-of-sorts Djokovic produced an uncharacteristic 45 unforced errors against Evans, who had not won an ATP Tour-level match on clay since April 2017 before this week.

The Serb did not appear to have any rust after beating Miami Open finalist Jannik Sinner in the round of 32, but never managed to get going in just his second match in as many months since triumphing at Melbourne Park.

"To be honest, this has been one of the worst matches from my side I can recall in the last few years," said Djokovic.

"I felt awful on the court overall. Nothing worked. Just one of those days. It was just an awful performance.

"I can't take any positives away from this match. It definitely leaves a bitter feeling exiting the court this way."

Evans was delighted to take advantage of a sluggish Djokovic, saying: "He gave away some cheap ones today, which he never normally does. But I'm just really happy.

"He kept me waiting a little bit in the changing room at the start of the match. That got me a bit extra fired up. My game plan was to try to bring him forward and have him hit the ball low in the court...

"He had so many break points (10) and didn't take them (converting three), so I was a little lucky there."

Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece dispatched Chile's Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final contest with Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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