Roger Federer squandered three match points in a shock 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) second round loss to Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday.
Federer, who has just won his 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, failed to take advantage of three match points in the second set tiebreaker, losing two of the three opportunities on unforced errors.
"(I) surprised everyone I think today," the 116th-ranked Donskoy said. "Whoever win against Roger surprises himself, I think."
Adding to the challenge for the Russian was playing against Federer for the first time.
"It was really tough in the beginning, because it was too much pressure," Donskoy said.
"Because it's Roger, and I never even practice with him."
Federer netted a forehand on Donskoy's one set point in the second set tiebreaker to extend the match to a third set.
Donskoy's dream of a quarterfinal berth seemed over when he forfeited his serve in the sixth game of the third set. But Federer wasn't able to close out the match when serving for it at 5-3 in the third, and then watched the Russian work his way to victory.
Federer led 5-1 in the third set tiebreaker, but Donskoy refused to fold.
"I had my chances," Federer said.
"I should somehow close it out. Don't know how it got away, but he did very well, and yeah, it's a rough one, for sure."
Federer, who skipped last year's tournament because of arthroscopic knee surgery, was in the hunt for an eighth Dubai title.
The initial excitement in the match occurred with Federer leading 6-3, 3-4 - when one set of the court floodlights went dark. Fans in the crowd turned on their cellphone flashlights and start waving them in the air as if they were at a rock concert.
Both players then agreed to play on despite the problem and by two games later full lighting was restored.
"I felt, if he wants to keep playing, I'm happy to keep playing," Federer said. "I didn't want to wait. It wasn't just, like, dark. It was just darker."
Donskoy will play seventh-seeded lucas Pouille in the quarterfinals. Pouille defeated qualifier Marius Copil 6-1, 6-4.
Bopanna, Matkowski reach semis
India's Rohan Bopanna, playing with his fourth different partner of the season, joined forces with Marcin Matkowski to reach the doubles semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, here.
The unseeded Indo-Polish pair knocked out Romania's Florin Mergea and Serbia's Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the USD 2,617,160 hard court tournament. This is the second best performance of the season for Bopanna, who won the season-opening Chennai Open with compatriot Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.
Bopanna and Matkowski had shocked second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers 5-7 6-3 11-9 in the opening round of one of the most-loved events on the calender.
Bopanna could next find compatriot leander Paes in the semifinals if the veteran Indian and his Spanish partner Guillermo Garcia-lopez could go past third seeds Daniel Nestor from Canada and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Djokovic rallies to beat Del Potro
Mexico city: Novak Djokovic rallied to beat Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 early on Thursday to advance to the Mexican Open quarterfinals. Djokovic, playing in his first tournament since his shocking loss in the second round of the Australian Open, struggled to beat Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open winner, who ousted the Serbian 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) in the first round of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. It was the first match between them since.
"Every time you play against Delpo, there's a lot of tension, emotions and quality of play," Djokovic said. "I'm happy I was able to beat him this time."
The 29-year-old Serbian, ranked No. 2, suffered an unexpected loss to Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin on the Australian Open. Djokovic, making his debut in Acapulco, was losing 4-3 in the third set, but he broke Del Potro twice and was able to preserve his serve to get the victory.