Second seed Novak Djokovic lost a marathon second round battle 6-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-7, 4-6 to unseeded Denis Istomin at the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday to crash out of season's first Grand Slam, Australian Open 2017.
The world number two came back from behind to take the second and third sets without any hassle but was tested in the fourth set, which went to the tie breaker to end in favour of the world number 117. And after Istomin got an early break in the decider, there was no stopping the Uzbek from clinching one of the biggest wins of his career in the match, that spanned for more than four hours.
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"I feel sorry for Novak. I was playing so good today. I surprised myself today. I want to thank my team and my mother. It is one of the biggest wins. It means so much. Now, I can feel that I can play with these guys at the highest level," Istomin said during the post-match interview.
This was also the first win for Istomin, who remained calm and composed throughout the clash, against Djokovic in six meetings so far. Also, the defending champions hopes of winning his seventh title and his third successive crown in Melbourne came to a crushing end after his second round defeat.
IBTimes Singapore has compiled some of the best Twitter reactions to Djokovic's shocking early exit.