Djokovic eliminated in third round of Monte Carlo Masters

For the first time in his career, Djokovic lost seven serve games in the first two sets. The poor serving performance caused the number one player in the world to lose the reverse despite winning the first set and leading 4-2 in the second set. For the third year in a row, Nole was eliminated before the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Before playing Musetti, Djokovic had only lost 17 serve games in 17 games this season. But in the third round of Monte Carlo Masters, he lost eight games. Djokovic won only 39% of second-ball points against Musetti, far below his average this season (58.7% - leading the ATP Tour).

Djokovic serves badly, and Musetti plays well. Continuing the excitement from the 6-0, 6-0 victory over Luca Nardi in the previous round, Musetti fought fairly with his seniors, recreating the eye-catching match in the fourth round of Roland Garros 2021. At that time, Musetti won the first two sets. but lost against Djokovic. That defeat did not repeat for Musetti, although it seemed that luck came to Djokovic when it rained at the time the Serbian player was in trouble.

Djokovic served better when the game resumed after the rain. Still, he couldn't win a catch game in the deciding set, something Nole did seven times in the first two sets. He lost another game and couldn't come back, losing 4-6 in the third set.

The nearly three-hour match saw Musetti win the world's top 5 opponent for the second time, and beat Djokovic for the first time. "I try not to cry, because this is a dream for me," Musetti said after the match. "Emotional victory after a very long game and interrupted by rain. Not easy conditions for us, when it's windy and cold."

In the quarterfinals, Musetti met compatriot Jannik Sinner, who saved the match-point in the second set to beat Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6, 6-1. The other quarter-final pairs were identified as Andrey Rublev vs Jan-Lennard Struff, Taylor Fritz vs Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune vs Daniil Medvedev. While Rune did not lose strength in the third round thanks to Matteo Berrettini's withdrawal, Medvedev beat Alexander Zverev 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(7) in the last match of the round.