Matteo Arnaldi recorded a 6-3, 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday.
Arnaldi, of Italy, fired five aces and saved four of five break points to win the match in 1 hour and 41 minutes.
Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion, has lost three consecutive matches. The Serbian fell to Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic in the Miami final and then lost to Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in his Monte Carlo opener.
“He’s my idol, he’s always been,” Arnaldi said of Djokovic. “I was just glad that I could play him. I never played him, just practiced with him. To play him at a stage like this was already a victory for me. He’s not at his best right now, so I came on 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 Djokovic’s 32 unforced errors.
“I was just trying to rally a bit at the start, trying to make him (make) some mistakes,” Arnaldi said. “Then once it starts, you start to feel better, the tension goes a little bit away. He gave me a little bit in a few games. For sure it helped me that I broke him straight away so I was like, ‘Alright, that’s a good start’ and then after that, it was an escalation. I started to play better and I think it became a quite good match.”
Also on Saturday, sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur breezed to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Lorenzo Sonego of Italy. Sonego’s countryman, 10th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti, enjoyed better fortune with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina.
Seventeenth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame a first-set stumble to notch a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany.
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, who is seeded 29th, coasted to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kei Nishikori of Japan.
Nineteenth-seeded Tomas Machac and 26th-seeded Jiri Lehecka — both of the Czech Republic — and 32nd-seeded Sebastian Baez of Argentina all fell in three sets.
Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley posted a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Macha, fellow Brit Cameron Norrie seized a 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 win over Lehecka and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur secured a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Baez. Dzumhur will face Arnaldi in the next round.
Other winners on Saturday were fifth-seeded Jack Draper of Great Britain, 11th-seeded Tommy Paul, 15th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 16th-seeded Frances Tiafoe (when Italy’s Luciano Darderi retired), 24th-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia and 30th seeded Matteo Berrenttini of Italy. Alexandre Muller of France won a three-set battle with countryman and 21st seed Ugo Humbert.
–Field Level Media
