Roger Federer lost his second consecutive match and the No. 1 ranking Saturday.
Big-serving Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, a qualifier ranked 175th, rallied to upset Federer 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) at the Miami Open. The 36-year-old Federer had been the oldest No. 1 man ever, but he'll lose that spot to Rafael Nadal when the new rankings come out April 2.
"I deserve it after this match," Federer said. "That's how I feel."
Kokkinakis became the lowest-ranked man to beat a No. 1 player since No. 178 Francisco Clavet upset Lleyton Hewitt in 2003. That upset was also at Key Biscayne.
"Pretty crazy," said Kokkinakis, 21. "I'm pretty happy about it."
Federer now has lost back-to-back matches for the first time since 2014, a dip that comes after a career-best 17-0 start to the year. He lost to Juan Martin del Potro in the Indian Wells final Sunday, a defeat that also came down to a winner-take-all tiebreaker.
Did the losses have anything in common?
"Yes, 7-6 in the third," Federer said. "Other than that, not much."
The 6-foot-5 Kokkinakis has long been regarded as a promising talent thanks to a thunderous serve and forehand, but has been plagued by injuries. The match was his first against Federer, although they've practiced together.
"I've always liked his game," Federer said. "I'm happy for him that on the big stage he was able to show it. It's a big result for him in his career, and I hope it's going to launch him."
Federer's defeat left both No. 1 players out of the tournament. Simona Halep lost hours earlier to Agnieszka Radwanska 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Eight-time women's champion Serena Williams and six-time winner Novak Djokovic were also eliminated in their opening matches.
Federer won't be playing to reclaim the No. 1 spot anytime soon. He said he'll skip the upcoming clay season for the second year in a row, including the French Open.
During a stadium ceremony before the night session, tour professionals joined members of the boys' and girls' tennis teams at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to promote a fundraising campaign for victims of last month's mass shooting there.
Federer's match turned when he played a poor service game and was broken at love to fall behind 3-1 in the second set.
"That game I knuckled down and put pressure on him," Kokkinakis said. "I started to dictate from there."
Kokkinakis never broke again but held the rest of the way, consistently topping 125 mph with his serve.
"Every time I had chances, something bad happened," Federer said. "Wrong decision-making by me, good decision-making by him. It's disappointing. I don't know why I couldn't get to any level I was happy with today."
Federer kept one exchange going by hitting a volley behind his back, but couldn't win even that point. He laughed then — it was early in the match — but looked grim two hours later as the end neared.
On match point, Federer buried a backhand return in the bottom of the net. Kokkinakis screamed in celebration, waved his index finger and gestured for more noise from the appreciative capacity crowd.
Kokkinakis said he didn't mind that fans were firmly in Federer's corner during the match — and even before it.
"When I came on court there wasn't much cheering," Kokkinakis said with a laugh. "He came on court with a little delay and that sort of strut he does, and I was like, 'This is pretty nuts.' The crowd goes nuts when he does his walk onto court."
The walk to the exit was the last at Key Biscayne for Federer, a three-time champion. The event is moving next year to the Miami Dolphins' stadium.
Nadal will become the new No. 1 even though he missed Key Biscayne because of a hip injury that also forced him to skip Indian Wells.
Kokkinakis is healthy for a change. The tournament is just his fifth in the past seven months, but he said he thought he could beat Federer.
"When I'm playing on my terms, I don't feel there are too many people that can go with me," Kokkinakis said. "I just needed to play my game and aggressive tennis."
Wozniacki complains of verbal abuse by Miami Open crowd
Reigning Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki says she and her family were targets of verbal abuse and threats from the crowd during her opening match at the Miami Open, which she lost to Monica Puig.
In a statement Saturday posted on Twitter, Wozniacki said the tournament did nothing to prevent the abuse. Tournament director James Blake responded that while the crowd was "loud and passionate," Miami Open staff, WTA Tour officials and courtside security were unaware during the match of any threats made.
Wozniacki lost 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 Friday night.
"I lost a tough match to a great opponent and friend Monica Puig," Wozniacki said in her statement. "I am fully aware that tennis is a game of wins and losses. However, during the match last night people in the crowd threatened my family, wished death threats on my mom and dad, called me names that I can't repeat here and told my fiance's niece and nephew (who are 10 years old) to sit down and shut ... up, meanwhile security and staff did nothing to prevent this and even accepted this to take place."
Puig is from Puerto Rico and especially popular in South Florida, while Wozniacki is from Denmark.
Wozniacki complained to the chair umpire during the match about crowd noise, but Blake said the tournament was unaware of any threatening comments.
"We had tournament and WTA staff as well as tournament security courtside," Blake said. "They never witnessed nor were they notified of any specific threats made to the players or their families. If we had been notified, the situation would have been handled immediately."
Wozniacki became a first-time Grand Slam champion at the Australian Open in January. She said she hopes the Miami Open takes her complaints about the crowd behavior seriously.
"It's a horrible example to set for the next generation of tennis players and fans," she said.
Alexander Zverev (4), Germany, def. Daniil Medvedev, Russia, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5).
Denis Shapovalov, Canada, def. Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 6-1, 7-5.
Borna Coric (29), Croatia, def. Leonardo Mayer, Argentina, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.
David Ferrer (28), Spain, def. Evgeny Donskoy, Russia, 6-2, 6-2.
Tomas Berdych (10), Czech Republic, def. Yoshihito Nishioka, Japan, 6-1, 6-4.
Frances Tiafoe, United States, def. Kyle Edmund (21), Britain, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (5).
Karen Khachanov (32), Russia, def. Marius Copil, Romania, 7-5, 6-3.
Sam Querrey (11), United States, def. Radu Albot, Moldova, 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Fernando Verdasco (31), Spain, def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Thanasi Kokkinakis, Australia, def. Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Kevin Anderson (6), South Africa, def. Nikoloz Basilashvili, Georgia, 6-4, 6-3.
Fabio Fognini (15), Italy, def. Nicola Kuhn, Spain, 6-4, 6-4.
Pablo Carreno Busta (16), Spain, def. Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan, 6-1, 6-0.
Jack Sock (8), United States, def. Yuki Bhambri, India, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Steve Johnson, United States, def. Adrian Mannarino (18), France, 6-3, 6-3.
Nick Kyrgios (17), Australia, def. Dusan Lajovic, Serbia, 6-4, 6-1.
Zarina Diyas, Kazakhstan, def. Carina Witthoeft, Germany, 4-6, 7-5, 6-0.
Karolina Pliskova (5), Czech Republic, def. Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4).
Agnieszka Radwanska (30), Poland, def. Simona Halep (1), Romania, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, def. Anastasija Sevastova (20), Latvia, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Wang Yafan, China, def. Alison Riske, United States, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Angelique Kerber (10), Germany, def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (23), Russia, 6-4, 6-4.
Sloane Stephens (13), United States, def. Monica Niculescu, Romania, 6-7 (1), 6-3, 4-0 retired.
Garbine Muguruza (3), Spain, def. Christina McHale, United States, 6-2, 6-1.
Jamie Murray, Britain, and Bruno Soares (6), Brazil, def. Ryan Harrison, United States, and Max Mirnyi, Belarus, 6-3, 6-4.
Raven Klaasen, South Africa, and Michael Venus, New Zealand, def. Ivan Dodig, Croatia, and Rajeev Ram (7), United States, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Ben Mclachlan, Japan, and Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany, def. Marcelo Demoliner, Brazil, and Daniel Nestor, Canada, 6-4, 7-5.
Oliver Marach, Austria, and Mate Pavic (3), Croatia, def. Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, Spain, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 11-9.
Chung Hyeon, South Korea, and Denis Shapovalov, Canada, def. Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Filip Krajinovic, Serbia, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-2.
Leonardo Mayer and Diego Schwartzman, Argentina, def. Marcin Matkowski, Poland, and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Pakistan, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 11-9
Bob and Mike Bryan (4), United States, def. Marcus Daniell, New Zealand, and Dominic Inglot, Britain, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 10-3.
Vania King, United States, and Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenia, def. Raluca Olaru, Romania, and Olga Savchuk, Ukraine, 6-1, 6-1.
Elise Mertens, Belgium, and Demi Schuurs, Netherlands, def. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Xu Yifan, China, 7-5, 7-5.
Nadiia Kichenok, Ukraine, and Anastasia Rodionova, Australia, def. Kiki Bertens, Netherlands, and Johanna Larsson (7), Sweden, 7-6 (2), 7-5.
Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan (2), Taiwan, def. Jelena Ostapenko and Anastasija Sevastova, Latvia, 6-1, 6-4.