Italian Matteo Arnaldi stuns Novak Djokovic to halt Serb’s chase for 100th title

TDT | Manama

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Novak Djokovic’s pursuit of his 100th career title was dashed yesterday at the Madrid Open as he was defeated 6-3, 6-4 by Italian Matteo Arnaldi in the second round. This marks Djokovic's second consecutive first-round exit, following his early loss to Alejandro Tabilo at the Monte Carlo Masters just two weeks ago.

Arnaldi, ranked 44th in the world, produced just the second top-five win of his career, and celebrated the moment with a gesture of pure excitement — scribbling ‘OMG’ on the camera lens. The 24-year-old Italian admitted to feeling nervous at the outset, saying, “At the start I was just trying not to s*** in my pants, to be honest.”

Despite squandering an early 2-0 lead, Arnaldi broke Djokovic’s serve in the eighth game of the first set, which he won in 48 minutes. Djokovic, a three-time Madrid champion, struggled with unforced errors throughout the match, finishing with 32 in total, including 20 in the first set alone.

Arnaldi, who has long admired Djokovic, reflected on the win, saying, “He’s my idol, he’s always been. I was just glad that I could play him because I never played him, I just practiced once with him. So playing him on a stage like this was already a victory for me.”

He added, “But, you know, he is not at his best right now, so I came on court to try to play my best tennis and win. It happened. So right now, I don’t even know what to say.”

In other matches, Lorenzo Musetti, fresh off his runner-up finish at the Monte Carlo Masters, continued his strong form with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 win over Argentina’s Tomas Etcheverry. Musetti, ranked a career-high 11th, is on the verge of breaking into the ATP top-10 and faces Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round. Musetti admitted that he is doing his best not to check the live ATP rankings until his top-10 status is official.

Meanwhile, Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion, showed resilience after being broken while serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set. Keys recovered to defeat Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) in 1 hour and 48 minutes, setting up a potential clash with either Emma Navarro or Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the round of 16.

In women’s singles, American Coco Gauff, the fourth seed, comfortably advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over compatriot Ann Li. She will next face Swiss Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic in the fourth round.

Teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva continued her stellar season with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Polish 27th seed Magdalena Frech. The 17-year-old Russian, who recently claimed back-to-back titles in Dubai and Indian Wells, will take on Ukrainian qualifier Yulia Starodubtseva for a chance to reach her second consecutive Madrid quarter-final.