Shock loss costs Medvedev No. 1 rank

Wednesday, 16 March 2022 02:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Daniil Medvedev (RUS) hits a shot in his third round match against Gael Monfils (FRA) during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden

REUTERS: Daniil Medvedev lost his world number one ranking after a stunning 4-6 6-3 6-1 loss to Gael Monfils in the third round of Indian Wells on Monday, while fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was eliminated by American Jenson Brooksby.

Monfils let out a roar as he secured the upset on the sixth match point in front of an adoring California crowd with a backhand winner to set up a meeting with Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth round.

The Frenchman handed Medvedev the break in the ninth game of the first set with a pair of double faults and two forehand errors, as the reigning U.S. Open champion dropped just four points on his serve in the opener.

But Medvedev lost the momentum in the second set, unable to convert on five of six break point opportunities. Monfils broke him in the fourth game with a backhand winner and again in the eighth with a fiery forehand.

Overcoming obvious exhaustion, Monfils won the first four games of the final set as Medvedev was unable to set up a single break point opportunity. It was the first time in 13 years that the 35-year-old Monfils beat the number-one ranked player in the world.

Twenty-times Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic will return to the top of the world rankings when they are updated next Monday.