Djokovic crashes out of Indian Wells opener

Five-time champion Novak Djokovic tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters on Saturday, falling in his first match to Botic van de Zandschulp.

The Dutch player who toppled Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open last year before beating Rafael Nadal in Davis Cup in the Spanish great's last match, beat 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

The Serb star, seeded sixth, joined world number two and top seed Alexander Zverev and fourth seed Casper Ruud in exiting in the second round.

Thirty-seven unforced errors were too much for Djokovic to overcome. After 14 in the first set he cleaned things up in the second, grabbing a quick break on the way to a 3-0 lead.

Djokovic pumped his fist after belting a forehand winner to the corner for his first break chance of the match and after consolidating the break nodded his head in satisfaction.

However, van de Zandschulp wasn't about to go quietly and the rallies remained tense affairs.

Trailing 0-40 in the sixth game of the second set, Djokovic clawed out another break in a game that went to deuce five times, but he was broken as he served for the set, gifting van de Zandschulp a third break opportunity with a forehand miss.

Clearly frustrated at times, Djokovic muscled a forehand winner to the baseline to secure the second set and level the match.

It was only a brief respite. Van de Zandschulp kept the pressure on both from the baseline and at the net and Djokovic's errors began to pile up again.

Van de Zandschulp took control in the third with a break for 3-1. He dived for an unlikely winner to open the game before Djokovic missed an easy volley. Unable to convert his first break chance, van de Zandschulp gave himself another with a stinging volley and caught Djokovic in midcourt with a lob.

Djokovic couldn't stop the bleeding as van de Zandschulp reeled off the last five games.

With his eighth victory over a top-10 opponent, van de Zandschulp has earned back-to-back ATP victories for the first time this year.

While Djokovic shares the Indian Wells record of five titles with Roger Federer, he hasn't hoisted the trophy since 2016.

He hoped the coaching of former rival Andy Murray would help him go deep this year, but instead it was an even earlier exit than in 2024 -- when he lost to lucky loser Luca Nardi in the third round.

In other matches, two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz raced into the third round, launching his bid for a rare three-peat with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over France's Quentin Halys.

The four-time Grand Slam winner from Spain is vying to join Djokovic and Roger Federer as the only players to win three straight Indian Wells ATP Masters titles.

He admitted he was feeling some nerves to start the match, but they evaporated amid a strong all-around performance.

In women's action, Australian Open champion Madison Keys opened the day's action in the combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 event, subduing hard-hitting Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-3, 6-0 in her first match since her maiden Grand Slam triumph.

Keys, whose victory over two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in Melbourne was the culmination of a 15-year-journey from teenage prodigy to major champion, reached a career-high ranking of fifth in the world on Monday.

She showed no sign of rust as she dispatched Potapova in 63 minutes.

"She's always a tough opponent, just because she can hit so hard and she is such a great ball-striker," Keys said. "I really just kind of had to try to keep the ball away from her, and I feel like I did a pretty good job with that."

World number three Coco Gauff secured her first match win since the Australian Open, scratching out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Japan's Moyuka Uchijima in Indian Wells.

Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, coughed up 21 double faults among a stream of unforced errors and was often clearly frustrated.

She said she would have liked to play better, but after dropping her opening matches in at WTA tournaments in Qatar and Dubai in the wake of her Australian Open quarterfinal exit she wasn't complaining.

"It's been a rough couple of weeks, and I'm just happy to get a win on the court," Gauff said. "No one likes to lose, and I came in here with determination. It wasn't my best tennis, but a win is a win."

Like all the seeds in the combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 event, Gauff had a first-round bye, while Uchijima, ranked 52nd, beat Britain's Emma Raducanu in straight sets in the first round.

© 2025 AFP