Juan Martin Del Potro crashed to a shock defeat at the hands of qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the first round of the Japan Open.
World number 189 stuns top seed in Japan
US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro crashed to a shock 6-4 6-4 defeat at the hands of qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the first round of the Japan Open.
The Argentine top seed was clearly struggling with a stomach upset, however he refused to use that as an excuse after falling to a player ranked 184 places below him.
"I didn't feel 100 per cent," said Del Potro, who finished runner-up at the same event in 2008.
"Everyone could see that. I had a little bit of jet-lag and a stomach ache but that's not the reason I lost.
"The other guy played good tennis and took his opportunities. Everyone can lose - It happens."
The win was Roger-Vasselin's first against a top-10 opponent, and his reward is a second-round date with Austrian Jurgen Melzer, a 7-6 6-3 victor over Leonardo Mayer.
Del Potro's usually potent groundstroke game failed him in Japan, a wayward forehand gifting Roger-Vasselin the first set and another error handing the French qualifier a break in the sixth game of the second.
Distress
The 21-year-old from Tandil called for the trainer at the change of ends and looked in some distress when he trudged out to receive in the next game, which Roger-Vasselin held to love.
And the world number 189 needed just one match point to seal victory, Del Potro sending another forehand out to the delight of his opponent.
"It's unbelievable," said Roger-Vasselin after the biggest victory of his career.
"I know him better than he knows me. That's maybe how I won. I saw it was not a good day and thought, 'Why not today?' It was a great match for me."
Earlier, Australian number eight seed Lleyton Hewitt advanced into the last 16 with a routine 6-1 7-5 victory over Japan's Tatsuma Ito.
"I had to dig deep to get out of that second set," said Hewitt, who won the Japan Open in 2001.
"My focus now is on the Australian Open in January and getting myself in as good a nick as possible for that. The grand slams are still what drive me."
Two more Frenchmen joined Roger-Vasselin in the second round, with third seed Gilles Simon beating local wild-card Takao Suzuki 6-3 6-4 and Fabrice Santoro securing a 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/2) 6-2 win over Andrey Golubev.
