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Novak Djokovic

MELBOURNE. — Novak Djokovic suffered arguably the biggest defeat of his career when he crashed out of the Australian Open tennis tournament to 117th-ranked Uzbek Denis Istomin yesterday, extending his mystifying slump in form. With unheralded Istomin inspired, the defending champion sent down 72 unforced errors as he lost 7-6 (10-8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in the second round to end his bid for a record seventh title at Melbourne Park.

Djokovic’s rival Rafael Nadal set up an enticing third-round showdown with rising German star Alexander Zverev after powering past Marcos Baghdatis.

Ninth-seeded Nadal, hoping to improve on an injury-hit 2016, was too strong and accurate for the 36th-ranked Baghdatis winning 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 in 2hr 13min.

Nadal, who beat Roger Federer in the 2009 Australian final, will step up his challenge for a second title against the 19-year-old German in a draw now missing six-time winner Djokovic.

The bottom half has opened up significantly with the stunning defeat of world number two Djokovic by Uzbekistan’s Istomin earlier yesterday.

“It will be a high-quality match against a potential Grand Slam winner and a future world number one,” Nadal said of his match with Zverev.

“I have no injuries and I can’t ask for more right now,” he added.

In the women’s draw, Serena Williams dispatched Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-4 but third seed Agnieszka Radwanska was a major casualty when she lost 6-3, 6-2 to Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

It is more than a decade since Djokovic made such an early exit from the Australian Open, and he hasn’t lost in the second round of any Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2008.

Djokovic had only been defeated once by a player outside the top 100 in the past seven years, when he went down to 145-ranked Juan Martin del Potro at the Rio Olympics.

The stunning result blows the men’s competition wide open as the six-time champion was widely expected to reach the January 29 final, where he was seeded to meet five-time runner-up Andy Murray.

It also raises fresh questions for the world number two, who has been in a funk since completing a career Grand Slam and winning his 12th major title at last year’s French Open.

“It’s one of these days when you don’t feel that great on the court, don’t have much rhythm, and the player you’re playing against is feeling the ball very well,” he shrugged. “That’s sport.”

While Djokovic was rocked by the defeat, there was joy for Istomin, who is coached by his mother and has never got beyond the third round in 11 visits to Melbourne Park.

“I feel sorry for Novak, I was playing so good today,” he said. “I surprised myself also.”

One beneficiary of Istomin’s win could be world number three Milos Raonic, who was seeded to meet Djokovic in the semi-finals.

Despite suffering from ‘flu, the Canadian strode into the third round with 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) demolition of Gilles Muller and will next play France’s Gilles Simon.

Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic made a miraculous recovery from his record-breaking, 84-game win over Horacio Zeballos two days earlier to beat Australian wildcard Andrew Whittington.

The 6ft 11ins (2.11m) Karlovic, who fired 75 aces as he beat Zeballos 22-20 in the fifth set on Tuesday, won 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to set up an encounter with Belgium’s David Goffin.

Grigor Dimitrov, a winner this month in Sydney, beat South Korea’s Chung Hye-On in four sets to go into a testing clash with Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

Radwanska was the strong favourite against Lucic-Baroni (34) but her famous shot-making deserted the Pole as she succumbed to her earliest exit since 2009. Britain’s Johanna Konta kept up her hot run of form as she beat Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2 to set up a meeting with former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova ousted Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova to stay unbeaten this year, and WTA Finals winner Dominika Cibulkova saw off Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei. — AFP.