Holder Stan Wawrinka was sensationally dumped out of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Tuesday as his form collapsed following an early 4-1 lead.
The Swiss three-time Grand Slam winner was beaten 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in the first round by outsider Damir Dzumhur.
Wawrinka was playing for the first time since suffering a right knee injury at the Australian Open a month ago, where he reached his eighth major semifinal before falling to Roger Federer.
And following defeat by the 77th-ranked journeyman from Bosnia-Herzegovina, he admitted that his fitness was lacking after only a week of practice.
“I started well but it was tough because I was missing a little bit something. In practice it was starting to be OK the last few days, but today I was missing something.”
Dzumhur made the most of his Dubai debut to advance into a match with Marcel Granollers of Spain.
The loss was the third from 10 matches this season for Wawrinka.
After taking an early lead, Wawrinka found his game slipping.
By the time he got the the first-set tiebreak, he was playing catch-up.
The second seed was broken twice for 5-1 in the second set before a brief rally in which he broke back once.
Despite his exit, Wawrinka said that his knee was giving him no pain, a positive sign heading into back-to-back Masters 1000 events starting next week in Indian Wells and Miami.
“I need to focus on myself. I need to practise more, to get in (a) better level to expect to do some good results,” Wawrinka said.
“I’m quite unhappy to lose first round. It’s tough, because I played well last year here. I was happy to be back. I was happy to be back on the ATP Tour after a month.”
“I was excited and I wanted to do better this week. But the result is not there, but I think in general it’s positive for my tennis.”
Elsewhere in the first round, Evgeny Donskoy beat fellow Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-4 to set up a match with Federer.
Spain’s Fernando Verdasco defeated Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-2, 7-5.
Djokovic eyes fun in Acapulco after Aussie nightmare
Novak Djokovic said Monday he is ready to atone for his shock Australian Open exit as he prepares to return to action in Acapulco.
The 29-year-old world No. 2 makes his bow in the tournament on Tuesday, his first match since tumbling out in Melbourne last month in the second round against Uzbekistand’s Denis Istomin.
The Australian Open defeat was the nadir of a challenging dip in form for the Serbian former world number one, who has won only two titles since July last year.
Djokovic, who is making his debut in Acapulco, said he feels in a healthier frame of mind since his travails of recent months.
“All in all, I feel that I’m in a much better state of mind than maybe I was at the end of last year. So I keep on going. I love this sport. That’s why I'm playing it. That’s why I'm here. I’m just hoping that I can stay healthy and as dedicated as best as I can be,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic, who plays Slovakia’s Martin Klizan in the first round, admitted going out in Melbourne so early had come as a shock.
“I haven’t experienced the first-week Australian Open loss for many years,” said Djokovic.
“But it’s kind of normal and expected to go through those times when you’re not playing as best as you can maybe, as best as you want to be, or maybe the opponent has an amazing day. It’s sport. You have to deal with it, and you can always learn much more from the losses.”
In early round action on Monday, American eighth seed John Isner was upset by compatriot Steve Johnson, going down in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
Fifth seed David Goffin had no such difficulty however, breezing past France's Stephane Robert 6-1, 6-2.

Source: Arab News