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I can’t believe it himself: Lorenzo Sonego beat Novak Djokovic. © APA / GEORG HOCHMUTH
What a surprise: Novak Djokovic was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna (1.4 million euros in prize money) and was bitten by an Italian.
October 30, 2020
Only sport writes such stories: In reality, Lorenzo Sonego should not have been allowed to compete in Vienna, but he slipped into the main field as a lucky underdog and now celebrated the greatest success of his career. In the quarterfinals, the world number 42 defeated the great Novak Djokovic. But to defeat is an understatement: with 6: 2, 6: 1, the Turinese swept the world number 1 off the field in around 70 minutes. In the semi-finals, the sensational man will face Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) or Daniel Evans (GBR).
Just by chance
For Lorenzo Sonego, the Vienna tournament ended last Sunday. In the second qualifying round, the 25-year-old failed in 3 sets against Alijaz Bedene of Slovenia. But because Cologne finalist Diego Schwartzman canceled at the last minute, Sonego sneaked into main field as the “lucky loser.” There he made his way to the quarterfinals thanks to two sovereign victories against Dusan Lajovic and Hubert Hurkacz, where the best tennis player in the world today, Novak Djokovic, awaited. You would think it is a clear thing. But in the end everything turned out differently.
Djokovic (left) congratulates Sonego. © APA / GEORG HOCHMUTH
Sonego played aggressively and bravely from the start, while Djokovic seemed slow, collected and powerless. When the young Italian quickly took both his opponent’s first and second serves and suddenly it was 4-0, at the latest he noticed a great sensation coming. As a result, Sonego was particularly strong on his own serve and presented the great Djokovic in big trouble. The decisive game of the game occurred in the middle of the second set when Sonego was 2: 1: Djokovic worked 3 break opportunities, but could not use any and had to abandon this game. After that, the underdog didn’t let anything burn.
Ascended to a select circle
After the game, Sonego could hardly believe it. “That was the most extraordinary game I have played in my career,” he said, visibly moved. With this victory, the 25-year-old entered a select group: before him, only 5 Italians had managed to beat number 1. Fabio Fognini achieved this feat for the last time in 2017 in Rome against Andy Murray. Corrado Barazzutti (against Ilie Nastase), Adriano Panatta (twice against Jimmy Connors), Gianluca Pozzi (against Andre Agassi) and Filippo Volandri (against Roger Federer) all managed to triumph against the world number one.
Author: it
