Djokovic conceded Lorenzo Sonego from Italy (ATP 42nd) with 2-6, 1-6 in the quarterfinals.
The Italian lost in the qualifying tournament last weekend, but had the opportunity to participate in the main competitions, which have become the most successful in his career. Sonego is the first “lucky loser” to ever beat Djokovic.
It was also the first time since 2005 that Djokovic has won only three games in one game. Earlier in 2005, he had an equally unsuccessful match in the Australian Open against Marathin Safin.
With the loss, Djokovic will have to wait a little longer to officially beat Pete Sampras’ record. Serbia will finish this season in the first position for the sixth time in his career.
“Clearly this is the best victory of my career. Novak is the best in the world,” Sonego said after his historic success. “I had a very good game.”
Sonego will meet Daniel Evans (ATP 33rd) from Great Britain in the semi-finals. He defeated Bulgarian Grigory Dimitrov (20th) in the quarterfinals with 7-6 (7: 3), 4-6, 6-3.
This was only the third loss for Djokovic this season. Probably a tennis player would have only two if he had not been disqualified in the US Open for passing the ball to the referee.
Dominiks Tīms (ATP 3rd), who was placed with the second number, also suffered a loss in this tournament. Last year’s champion with 5-7 (5: 7), 2-6 gave way to the Russian Andrei Rublev (ATP 8), who was awarded the fifth number.
In the semi-finals, Rublev will meet with South African representative Kevin Anderson (111th), who unexpectedly defeated Russian tennis player Danil Medvedev (6th) with 6-4, 7-6 (7: 5), who was placed in fourth place.
For Anderson, this was his first victory against the Top 10 tennis players in the last two years.
The tournament in Vienna takes place indoors on a hard surface and is scheduled to end on Sunday.
