Miami: Six-time champion Novak Djokovic’s hopes of turning around his season at the Miami Open ended in the second round when he was defeated 6-3 6-4 by Frenchman Benoit Paire on Friday.
The loss snapped a 16-match winning streak in the tournament for the ninth-seeded Serb, who had been eliminated in the second round at Indian Wells but said before the match his right elbow was pain free for the first time in a long while.
He had won the tournament in 2014, 2015 and 2016 but missed last year’s event with the elbow injury.
The defeat also ended a streak of 21 consecutive victories over players from France for the former world number one.
“I’m trying, but it’s not working,” Djokovic told the Miami Herald. “That’s all it is. I mean, obviously I’m not feeling great when I’m playing this way.
“Of course, I want to be able to play as well as I want to play. Just it’s impossible at the moment. That’s all.”
Djokovic, who lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open and dropped his only match at Indian Wells last week, had not lost in three consecutive tournaments since the end of the 2007 season, when he dropped his final five matches.
