SHANGHAI, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz beat Novak Djokovic for the first time as he dumped the four-times champion out of the Shanghai Masters with a 6-4 6-3 second-round victory on Friday.
Tenth seed Djokovic arrived in Shanghai fresh from winning a record seventh China Open crown after Australia’s Alex de Minaur retired with a groin injury in Tuesday’s final.
The 24-times Grand Slam champion, whose last Shanghai title came in 2018, had an 8-0 record against 29-year-old Hurkacz.
But the Pole, a former world number six, produced a clinical display, firing 13 aces and 28 winners while conceding little on serve to beat Djokovic in one hour and 27 minutes in his first Shanghai appearance since capturing the title in 2023.
The defeat marked the latest setback in a testing season for the 39-year-old Serbian, who suffered a shock first-round exit at the US Open, his earliest Grand Slam defeat since the 2006 Australian Open.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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