MONACO – The best Novak Djokovic lost on Thursday 6-4, 7-5 to Dan Evans in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters for his first defeat of the year.
The Australian Open champion was 10-0 in the match, but was under pressure from the start when he was 3-0 up to the unseeded British player in their first encounter.
Djokovic dropped his shot five times in windy conditions. Evans, after leading 6-5, took the win on his first game point with a proposer winning the net.
“It probably hasn’t sunk in yet. I couldn’t really believe the last ball went over the net. It almost didn’t,” Evans said. “It’s clearly a big win. It’s the biggest thing: you have to believe you can win. It’s not easy to hand it out, all this stuff goes through your head.”
Evans plays his first Masters quarterfinal against 11th seed David Goffin, which upset fifth seed Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (7).
Goffin saved all six of the breakdown points he faced and broke the imposing German’s serve once.
In another third round, Stefanos Tsitsipas play 6-3, 6-4 against Cristian Garin and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat the game card Lucas Pouille 6-2, 7-6 (2).
Later on Thursday, 11-time champion Rafael Nadal will face Grigor Dimitrov in their 15th event, with Nadal leading 13-1.