World number two Roger Federer suffered an early defeat at the ongoing Madrid Masters tournament on Thursday, a day after top-ranked Novak Djokovic exited the tournament also with an early round loss.
Kei Nishikori of Japan stunned the defending champion 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in the third round of Madrid Masters.
“He was my idol. Actually, to beat him, that was one of my goals for my tennis career,” said Nishikori. “It happens on clay and it’s amazing. It’s not really my favourite surface.”
The 23-year old held his nerve in the third set to close out the match in one hour and 35 minutes.
“I wasn’t really expecting this,” said Nishikori. “6-2 in the third, that’s not easy against him. I played well. I was a little bit tight of course, but he didn’t make many first serves in the third set and I was able to attack his second. I was even more aggressive in the third set. I’m pretty happy the way I played.”
Federer was just playing his first tournament in nearly two months, since he lost to rival Rafael Nadal at the Indian Wells quarterfinals. He won the Madrid title against Tomas Berdych at the controversial blue claycourts. The courts are now back to red clay.
