Bautista defies all odds to knock Djokovic out of Miami Open

Bautista defies all odds to knock Djokovic out of Miami Open

Six-time champion Novak Djokovic was stunned on Tuesday evening as he crashed out of the Miami Open after suffering a surprise defeat to Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets.

Djokovic went into the match as the bookies clear favourite and looked set to progress to the next stage after winning the first set 6-1 but Bautista fought hard to win the next two sets 7-5 and 6-3 to set up a quarter final tie against defending champion John Isner.

Many online bookmakers, such as the ones listed on Amazing.bet, had Djokovic at odds of just 1/5 pre-match and were expecting him to progress to the next stage in pursuit of a record seventh Miami Open title. However, it was the underdog Bautista with pre-match odds of 7/2 who was able to dig the deepest and cause an upset.

Djokovic has now failed to reach the quarter-finals in both the Miami Open and the Indian Wells for the past two years, causing him to rethink his preparation for the tournaments and blamed off-court distractions as a contributing factor to Tuesday night’s defeat.

Following his exit from the tournament, Djokovic said:

“It’s not the first time I lose early in both tournaments. I have done that the last couple of years. So definitely have to rethink how I prepare for Indian Wells/Miami next year,”

“I just had way too many things off the court. I guess that affected me a little bit on the court.”

This is the second time this year Bautista Agut has defeated Djokovic with the first being in the Qatar Open in January.

Bookmakers currently have three-time Miami Open champion Roger Feder as favourite to lift the trophy at odds of 13/8 with defending champion John Islner second favourite at odds of 5/1, followed by Bautista-Agut at 6/1.

Federer’s last-16 ties against Daniil Medvedev was due to take place also on Tuesday but officials were forced to push back the match until the following after rain delayed play for over two hours. Their match has been rescheduled for 7pm this evening at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

By Matchedbets Experts

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