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Novak Djokovic was shocked by Botic van de Zandschulp 6-2 3-6 6-1 in the second round of Indian Wells as the Serbian suffered an early exit at the hands of a tournament lucky loser for a second consecutive year.
Djokovic fell to lucky loser Luca Nardi of Italy in the California desert last year and history repeated itself on Stadium One court a day after top seed Alexander Zverev also went out.
The twenty-four time grand slam champion got off to a horrid start, hitting 14 unforced errors and being broken twice in the opening set.
He regrouped to race out to a 3-0 lead in the second, levelling the contest with a mighty forehand winner and pumping his fist in front of the packed, sun-soaked crowd.
But giant killer van de Zandschulp ran away with the decider, breaking Djokovic for a fourth time with a perfectly executed lob for a 3-1 lead and sealing the stunning upset when Djokovic’s shot went wide on match point.
“I started really well and then of course Novak came back,” said van de Zandschulp, who secured a berth to the tournament upon the withdrawal of 47th ranked Facundo Diaz Acosta.
“In the end I was happy to get my level back.”
Van de Zandschulp was up a set and 3-0 on Nick Kyrgios in his first-round match on Stadium One on Thursday before the Australian withdrew with wrist pain.
Djokovic, 37, retired from his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev with a hamstring injury and lost in the Qatar Open first round last month.
He said the leg injury was behind him coming into the tournament and did not look hampered by it in his match of Saturday, where he was accompanied by coach Andy Murray.
“No excuses for a poor performance,” Djokovic said. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court, but congratulations to my opponent.
“Just a bad day in the office.”
Djokovic’s loss led a day of upsets that included seventh seed Andrey Rublev losing 6-4 7-5 to Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi and 17th seed Felix Auger Aliassime falling to American Jenson Brooksby 6-4 6-2.
World number one Jannik Sinner is not playing at the tournament as he serves a doping suspension.