INDIAN WELLS — Luca Nardi used a combination of poise and power to stun his boyhood idol and top-seeded Novak Djokovic with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win on Monday night in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Nardi, who is ranked No. 123, closed out his huge upset over the top player in the world rankings with an ace. The 20-year-old from Italy dropped his racket and brought his hands to his face almost in disbelief before greeting Djokovic at the net.
Setting the tone early with his hard-hitting shots, Nardi frustrated Djokovic all evening. There was a moment when Nardi was surprised by an “in” call and casually hit the ball back over the net. It resulted in a winner and led to Djokovic complaining to the official about a potential hindrance.
To think, Nardi was nearly on his way home. He got into the field as a “lucky loser,” which is a player who stumbled on the final hurdle in qualifying but made it into the main draw as a replacement for an injured player who pulled out before the first round. In Nardi’s case, he stepped in for No. 30 Tomas Martin Etcheverry and received a bye through the opening round.
Using a combination of aggressiveness and finesse, Nardi had Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam singles champion he grew up watching, smiling and shaking his head at times in a mixture of surprise and shock.
Nardi was far from intimidated, either, answering Djokovic’s well-placed shots with well-placed returns of his own.
Earlier in the day, Coco Gauff gave herself an early birthday present by beating Lucia Bronzetti, 6-2, 7-6 (5), in the third round. Gauff, who turns 20 on Wednesday, struggled early but found a way to hold her serve by saving 10 of 11 break points. She closed out the match with a serve into the body that Bronzetti couldn’t return. It extended Gauff’s winning streak in the United States to 18 matches, a run that includes winning the title at last year’s U.S. Open.
Bronzetti had a chance to force a third set when she took a…
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