Source: US Open
Australian player Alexey Popirin made another sensation since the start of the US Open tennis championship, after knocking out Novak Djokovic in the men’s third round match. The Serbian 24-time Grand Slam champion failed to defend his title from last year, losing 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6 to the world number 28. The match lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes.
Earlier in the second round of the competition Botik van de Zandshulp of the Netherlands eliminated one of the other favorites Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic had not made such an early exit from the tournament, which takes place in New York, since 2006. With today’s victory, Popyrin recorded his most impressive result in the Grand Slam tournaments. He had never made it past the third round until now.
The world number 2 made a total of 14 double faults and converted just 4 of his 16 break opportunities, making it easy for Popyrin.
“I am extremely happy. At the Australian Open and Wimbledon, I didn’t take my chances against Djokovic, but today was different. I played really good tennis. About 15 times I’ve reached the third round in Grand Slam tournaments and I still couldn’t get past it, and now I did it against the best tennis player of all time, which is incredible,” commented an excited Popyrin after the match, who left 50 in the statistics winners and equally unforced errors.
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