Rome Masters: Djokovic falls as terrific Tabilo reaches last 16

Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, the No 29 seed, beat Serb Novak Djokovic, the top seed, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the last 16 of the Rome Masters at the Foro Italico in Roma on Sunday.

This is Tabilo’s first-ever win over an opponent ranked in the Top 10, and it has steered him through to the fourth round of a Masters event for only the second time in his career (following Indian Wells last year).

He is the first Chilean man to beat a reigning world No 1 since Fernando Gonzalez beat Roger Federer in the round robin stage of the 2007 ATP Finals.

Tabilo, ranked No 32, will play Russian Karen Khachanov, the No 16 seed, next.

In the previous round of the Italian Open, the Chilean won against German Yannick Hanfmann (6-3, 7-6 (4)).

The 26-year-old won his first ATP Tour title this year, coming through qualifying in Auckland to lift the trophy. He reached his current and career-high ranking of world No 32 this month after his run to the final of Santiago.

Djokovic, ranked No 1, defeated French lucky loser Corentin Moutet (6-3, 6-1) in the second round of the Italian Open.

That win was less than convincing, and his poor performance continued against Tabilo with a lacklustre display concluding with a double fault.

You might also like this

“Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic are all better than me” – Medvedev

tennis majors

“This was an accident – I am fine” – Djokovic allays fans’ fears after bottle incident in Rome

tennis majors

Moutet’s phone interrupts mid-match with Djokovic

tennis majors

Roma Masters 1000, other third-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.877.020, most recent results first):

• Hamad Medjedovic vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Tommy Paul vs. Dominik Koepfer
• Sebastian Baez vs. Holger Rune
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry
• Alexandre Muller vs. Andrey Rublev
• Stefano Napolitano vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Alex De Minaur
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Cameron Norrie
• Alexander Zverev vs. Luciano Darderi
• Ben Shelton vs. Zhizhen Zhang
• Taylor Fritz vs. Sebastian Korda: sunday
• Terence Atmane vs. Grigor Dimitrov: sunday
• Karen Khachanov beat Francisco Cerundolo (20): 6-2, 6-4
• Nuno Borges beat Francesco Passaro (Q): 4-6, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (4)
• Thiago Monteiro (Q) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (6)