Swiss great confirms he won't play until June, missing the clay court season before returning for the grass campaign
Monday 26 March 2018 17:30, UK
Roger Federer suffered his earliest defeat at the Miami Open since 2000 and will lose his world No 1 ranking after a second-round defeat to Australian world No 175 Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Six days after losing a final set tie-break to Juan Martin del Potro, Federer suffered the same fate again as 21-year-old Kokkinakis recorded the biggest win of his career, coming from a set down to win 3-6 6-3 7-6 in Florida.
Defeat for defending champion Federer, just his second of the season, means the legendary Swiss will lose his place at the top of the world rankings to Rafael Nadal when the updated list is confirmed next Monday having reclaimed it with his title victory in Rotterdam in February.
For Kokkinakis, it represents a landmark victory putting two years of injury problems behind him to become the lowest ranked player to beat a world No 1 since Francisco Clavet (world No 178) beat Lleyton Hewitt in Miami in 2003.
And his performance drew the praise of 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer: "I've always liked his game.
"I'm happy for him that on the big stage he was able to show it. It's a big result for him in his career, and I hope it's going to launch him."
"I deserve it after this match - that's how I feel."
Federer, a three-time champion in Miami, has not suffered defeat this early in Key Biscayne since 2000 when as an unseeded teenager he was beaten by Mariano Zabaleta.
Kokkinakis advances to a third-round meeting with Fernando Verdasco, who came from a set down to win the all-Spanish contest against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez after what could be a career-defining afternoon.
"I was calmer than I thought, inside I was pretty happy, I was excited, but I kept pretty calm," said Kokkinakis.
"When I feel like I'm playing on my terms I don't think there aren't too many people that can go with me. I just needed to play my game and play aggressive tennis.
"I've trained with him a lot of times. I took what I learned from him and sort of kind of knew how he played a little bit."
Federer confirmed after the match that - just as he did in 2017 - he will not play the clay court season, returning in June when the grass court swing gets going and he looks to defend the Wimbledon title he won so convincingly last year.
Kokkinakis adventure in Florida continues, having been handed a wild card into qualifying, he made it through to the main draw and has added the considerable scalp of Federer to that of fellow qualifier Calvin Hemery.
Alexander Zverev is a potential semi-final opponent for Kokkinakis, and he is looking to put a disappointing start to 2018 behind him.
The German, ranked fifth in the world, was a Masters champion in Rome and Montreal last year but has just one semi-final to his name in 2018 and was beaten by Joao Sousa in the second round in Indian Wells.
However, he has gone one better following a hard-fought 6-4 1-6 7-6 victory over fellow NextGen star Daniil Medvedev. Zverev will next face David Ferrer after the veteran Spaniard's routine 6-2 6-2 victory over Evgeny Donskoy.
Denis Shapovalov continues to impress, the Canadian teenager needed just 72 minutes to beat world No 30 Damir Dzumhur 6-1 7-5 - and he will next face Sam Querrey who was a 7-6 6-1 winner over Radu Albot.
There was another impressive victory for Indian Wells semi-finalist Borna Coric who came from a set down to beat Leonardo Mayer in a match that lasted four minutes short of three hours, while Russian 32nd seed Karen Khachanov also booked his place in the last 32.
In the evening session there was a routine victory for Nick Kyrgios, the Aussie is making his return after an elbow injury has limited the early months of his season - but he was a man in a hurry against Dusan Lajovic, recording a 6-4 6-1 victory in less than 50 minutes.
You can watch more ATP Masters 1000 action from the Miami Open when we continue our coverage on Sunday from 4pm on Sky Sports Arena and from 7pm on Sky Sports Mix, which you can find on channel 287, and is free for all Sky customers
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