Thanasi Kokkinakis stuns Roger Federer in Miami Open

Alex Fisher

Thanasi Kokkinakis stuns Roger Federer in Miami Open image

Thanasi Kokkinakis produced the performance of his life to send top seed Roger Federer tumbling out of the Miami Open in round two and end the Swiss' time at the top of the world ranking.

The world number 175 was not expected to pose much of a challenge for Federer on a glorious Saturday in Florida, but Kokkinakis showed no fear to fight back a claim a sensational 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) victory.

It had all looked routine for Federer when he moved ahead after just 34 minutes, but his quality slipped enough to allow his young Australian opponent to come storming back and progress to the third round.

Defeat – a second in-a-row following his loss to Juan Martin del Potro in the Indian Wells Masters final – means Federer will lose his place as world number one to Rafael Nadal when the new rankings are released in April.


 

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A solitary break in the fourth game of the match was enough to give Federer the early advantage, Kokkinakis having to defend his only break points of the set as his illustrious rival upped the tempo.


 

That forced Kokkinakis into an error, his inside-out forehand not able to get over the net as Federer took his opportunity.

Federer finished the opening set having only dropped six points on serve but he was immediately under pressure in the second, Kokkinakis pulling out some unbelievable groundstrokes.

Having fallen 4-1 behind, Federer could have been further adrift but he saved two break points to make Kokkinakis serve out to force a decider – which he nonchalantly did to love.

A gripping final set saw both men dig deep to hold serve, Kokkinakis taking a lot longer than his opponent but gaining in confidence every time.


 

Federer was still able to find crisp, precise groundstrokes but Kokkinakis was competitive throughout and never gave up, keeping the ball in play to draw rare errors from the 20-time grand slam champion.

And it was Kokkinakis, who fought back from 30-0 down in the final game to set up a tie-break, who edged ahead in the shoot-out and held his composure to complete the biggest win of his career.

 

Alex Fisher