Men's defending champion Novak Djokovic was upset 7-6 3-6 6-4 by qualifier Kevin Anderson in the Sony Ericsson Open second round on Friday. Second seed Rafael Nadal came safely through, however, along with women's seeds Justine Henin and Williams sisters Serena and Venus.
Djokovic, who won his first grand slam title at the Australian Open in January and last week's Pacific Life Open, looked sluggish against giant South African Anderson. "I tried to recover, but obviously I was a little bit tired from the start," third seed Djokovic told reporters. "I could play, but I didn't know the way he's playing." Serb Djokovic led 2-0 in the third set before Anderson went on a run of 13 points in a row to take a 3-1, 40-0 lead.
Anderson double-faulted on his first match point but converted his second when Djokovic netted a forehand and the world number 122 went on to claim his first career top-10 scalp.
"When I found out I was playing Novak, I was really, really excited about it," Anderson said. "Just the opportunity of play the best player this year, and third in the rankings, I was really excited for it." Spaniard Nadal beat Benjamin Becker of Germany 7-5 6-2.
Nadal struggled to win the opening set but raced into a 4-0 lead in the second. "He started playing so crazy, playing well in the beginning," Nadal said. "So I'm happy for that, because I played a comfortable match today."
Men's seventh seed David Nalbandian lost in straight sets to Belgian Xavier Malisse and eight-seeded Richard Gasquet of France was upset 6-3 6-7 7-6 by Russian Dmitry Tursunov. Women's defending champion Serena Williams was impressive in her 6-1 6-2 demolition of Romanian Edina Gallovits.
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