Top-ranked Novak Djokovic ousted from Miami Open, Federer match delayed by rain
The sun was shining, the Miami Open favorites were winning, top-ranked Novak Djokovic raced to a 5-0 lead over Roberto Bautista Agut in 28 minutes; and then, the clouds set in, Djokovic lost his focus and unraveled.
For the second time this year, Bautista Agut rallied from a set down and toppled Djokovic in three sets. The 30-year-old Spaniard won 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Tuesday in a two-and-a-half-hour match that was interrupted by a 30-minute rain delay. He also beat Djokovic in the semifinals at Doha in January.
Djokovic held for 5-5 in the second set following the rain and had a break point in the next game, but squandered it. He converted just one of seven break point opportunities in the second set. Djokovic insisted the weather was not a factor.
“It’s not the rain delay,” he said. “The rain delay came at 5-4. I was break up right away in the second. I lost the momentum, I lost the rhythm in the second set. I gave him a little room to step in and he did. A little hope that he can come back, and he made a great comeback. But fault is on me, for sure. I had way too many opportunities that I wasted.”
The loss meant the end of a disappointing March on hardcourts for Djokovic, who started the season on a high, beating Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final, but lost in the third round at Indian Wells, Calif. He said he will have to re-think how he prepares for the back-to-back U.S. tournaments in the future. He also suggested he was distracted by off-court activities.
As president of the ATP player council, he was embroiled in tour politics after the win in Australia.
“I just had way too many things off the court,” he said. “I guess that affected me a little bit on the court. I didn’t feel my best health-wise, as well, in Indian Wells and here. You know, still rusty, but, hey, look, you learn that’s life.”
Agut, who is ranked 25, felt the momentum shift at the start of the second set.
“The key of the match was at the beginning of the second set,” he said. “If I wanted to win the match, I had to be very close at the score. Otherwise Novak, when he gets an advantage, he plays really aggressive. As you see, the first set I couldn’t play at the same level.”
The other compelling storyline on Tuesday was the continuing emergence of young Canadian players.
Canadian snowbirds have been flocking to Florida by the hundreds of thousands every winter for a long time; and now there is a new population of Canadian visitors making an extended stay in March – professional tennis players in the Miami Open.
Eighteen-year-old Canadian qualifier Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the quarterfinals on Tuesday with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win over 17th-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia. His result is remarkable considering this time last year he was ranked No. 182 and lost in the first round of qualifying.
Auger-Aliassime had never reached the fourth round of a masters tournament before this week, and is the youngest Miami Open quarterfinalist since Andy Roddick in 2001. The upstart Montreal native, who plays piano in his spare time, is also the first qualifier to reach the final eight in this tournament since Guillermo Canas in 2007. He is primed to crack the Top 50 with his results at the Miami Open, becoming the first player born in the 2000s to reach that milestone.
He is the latest young Canadian player to make headlines in recent years, joining a group that includes 23rd-ranked Denis Shapovalov, scheduled to play his fourth-round match Tuesday night, and 14th-ranked Milos Raonic, who reached the Miami Open quarters in 2018, 2016 and 2014.
The women’s tour also saw a Canadian make her mark, as 18-year-old qualifier Bianca Andreescu beat several highly-ranked players to win the title at Indian Wells, Calif., two weeks ago. Tennis Canada built a National Training Center in Montreal in 2007, and the results are starting to show.
Auger-Aliassime said the young Canadian players feel a kinship and hope to inspire another generation of players in their country. His father, Sam, a tennis coach and native of Togo, runs a tennis academy. His older sister, Malika, also plays tennis.
“We are definitely seeing it and feeling it,” Auger-Aliassime said of the next-gen Canadians. “But I think it’s all positives. I don’t think anyone sees it as an extra pressure or anything.
“I think we’re all just enjoying our time and enjoying the fact that we are three young players plus Milos that are playing good at the same time. You know, having examples like this in the country is crucial. I remember for me it was. So, to be able now to give back and inspire younger kids is a privilege. Hopefully we can all, our separate ways, we can all keep playing well and motivate us and see how far we can go.”
Other men who advanced to the final eight were: defending champion John Isner, sixth-seed Kevin Anderson, and 11th seed Borna Coric.
“I really like center court,” Isner said after his 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3) win over Kyle Edmund of Great Britain. “I said that after I played my first match. I appreciate the fact that I have played every match on there, and I think as long as I keep going, I’ll probably stay on center court.”
Roger Federer was scheduled to play the late-night match on Stadium Court Tuesday night against Daniil Medvedev of Russia, but the match was postponed until Wednesday “not before 3 p.m.” due to the rain delay.
Other evening matches affected by rain included American Frances Tiafoe vs David Goffin of Belgium, Shapovalov against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and a women’s match between Petra Kvitova and Ashleigh Barty. Tiafoe led 7-5, 4-4 when the rain started falling, and Barty led 2-1.
This story was originally published March 26, 2019 at 8:55 PM.