Mar 6, 2025; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) hits a ball in opposition to Aleksander Kovacevic (USA) within the BNP Paribas Open on the Indian Properly Tennis Backyard. Necessary Credit score: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Photographs
Matteo Arnaldi recorded a 6-3, 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic within the second spherical of the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday.
Arnaldi, of Italy, fired 5 aces and saved 4 of 5 break factors to win the match in 1 hour and 41 minutes.
Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion, has misplaced three consecutive matches. The Serbian fell to Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic within the Miami last after which misplaced to Alejandro Tabilo of Chile in his Monte Carlo opener.
“He is my idol, he is at all times been,” Arnaldi mentioned of Djokovic. “I used to be simply glad that I may play him. I by no means performed him, simply practiced with him. To play him at a stage like this was already a victory for me. He is not at his finest proper now, so I got here on court docket to attempt to play my finest tennis and win and it occurred, so proper now I do not even know what to say.”
Arnaldi took benefit of Djokovic’s 32 unforced errors.
“I used to be simply making an attempt to rally a bit initially, making an attempt to make him (make) some errors,” Arnaldi mentioned. “Then as soon as it begins, you begin to really feel higher, the strain goes just a little bit away. He gave me just a little bit in just a few video games. For certain it helped me that I broke him immediately so I used to be like, ‘Alright, that is an excellent begin’ after which after that, it was an escalation. I began to play higher and I feel it grew to become a fairly good match.”
Additionally on Saturday, sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur breezed to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Lorenzo Sonego of Italy. Sonego’s countryman, Tenth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti, loved higher fortune with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina.
Seventeenth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame a first-set stumble to notch a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany.
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, who’s seeded twenty ninth, coasted to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kei Nishikori of Japan.
Nineteenth-seeded Tomas Machac and Twenty sixth-seeded Jiri Lehecka — each of the Czech Republic — and Thirty second-seeded Sebastian Baez of Argentina all fell in three units.
Nice Britain’s Jacob Fearnley posted a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Macha, fellow Brit Cameron Norrie seized a 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 win over Lehecka and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur secured a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Baez. Dzumhur will face Arnaldi within the subsequent spherical.
–Discipline Degree Media