Three-time champion Novak Djokovic was knocked out in the second round of the "Masters 1000" tennis tournament on red courts in the Spanish capital Madrid with a prize pool of over 8 million euros.
The Serbian, ranked number 4 in the scheme, who took the trophy in 2011, 2016 and 2019, lost to Italian Matteo Arnaldi 3:6, 4:6 in 1:42.
Djokovic allowed three breaks and suffered his third consecutive defeat. He reached the final in Miami before losing to Jakub Menšík, then lost to Alejandro Tabillo in his first match in Monte Carlo.
Arnaldi will next play Damir Džumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina), who eliminated Sebastian Baez (Argentina) 1-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The 24-year-old Arnaldi's victory over Djokovic in their first meeting marked his second career win over a top-five player, both of which came in Madrid. In 2023, he defeated then-No. 4 Casper Ruud.
Four of the seeds advanced to the third round. Number 6 Alex de Minor (Australia) defeated Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-2, 6-3 and will next face number 29 Denis Shapovalov (Canada), who defeated Kei Nishikori (Japan) 6-1, 6-4.
10th seed Lorenzo Musetti (Italy) defeated Tomas Martin Echeverri (Argentina) 7-6(3), 6-2 to set up a match against number 17 Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece), who defeated Jan-Lennard Schroff (Germany) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Two of the seeds were eliminated from the tournament. Number 19 Tomas Mahach (Czech Republic) lost to Jacob Fearnley (Great Britain) 6-1, 3-6, 2-6, while Cameron Novi (Great Britain) eliminated number 26 Jiri Lehecszka (Czech Republic) 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.