For the first time in 2021, Novak Djokovic, the number one player in the world, did not come away with a victory on Thursday. In the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters, Djokovic was beaten 6-4, 7-5 by Daniel Evans of Great Britain.
Up until Djokovic’s loss to Evans on Thursday, he had won his first 10 matches of 2021. Djokovic beat Denis Shapovalov of Canada, and Alexander Zverev of Germany at the ATP Cup in Melbourne in February, then won his record ninth Australian Open title by beating Jeremy Chardy of France, Americans Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz, Canada’s Milos Raonic, Zverev again, and Russians Aslan Karatsev and Daniil Medvedev, before beating Italian sensation Jannik Sinner of Italy 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of Monte Carlo.
The last loss for Djokovic prior to being beaten by Evans came in the semi-finals of the ATP Cup in London in November. There, Djokovic was beaten 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 in three close sets to Dominic Thiem of Austria.
This was Evans’s fourth win in his career over a top-10 player, but the first time he has beaten a player either ranked number one or previously ranked number one. Prior to Thursday, Evans had a record of 0-6 against either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. This was also the first time Evans had faced Djokovic in his career.
It was also the first time that Evans ever reached the quarterfinals of an ATP Masters 1000 series event. In fact, Evans is in the semifinals now after beating David Goffin of Belgium, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. He will now face Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the semifinals on Saturday.
