Miami - A time violation in the third game of the final set put defending champion Novak Djokovic on the road to ruin as South African outsider Kevin Anderson grabbed the biggest chance of his career for an upset win at the Miami Masters. The Friday second round knockout ended 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-4 in favour of the 21-year-old qualifier straight out of a US university with a 122 world ranking.
"When I found out I was playing Novak, I was really, really excited about it," said Anderson, a student in Illinois. "Just the opportunity of playing the best player this year, I was really excited for it."
Australian Open winner Djokovic was joined as a seeded loser by number eight Richard Gasquet, who lost 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5) to Russian Dmitry Tursunov.
Number two Rafael Nadal got off to a winning start, defeating German Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-2. Roger Federer opens play on Saturday night against Gael Monfils.
Number three Djokovic, whose slow-bouncing style on serve is well-known, copped a time violation which put him off his stride on the way to dropping serve and going 1-2 down after breaking Anderson to start the final set.
From that point on, Anderson, losing finalist last month at Las Vegas, was able to seize control.
Djokovic refused to lay the blame for defeat on a broken shoelace on the final point after saving a pair of match points.
The Serb who only five days earlier won the Indian Wells title, sent a forehand into the set to end his afternoon to forget.
"I didn't focus myself in that moment," said a subdued Djokovic, whose Serbian supporters were noticeably missing in the stands at Crandon Park.
"The time violation and a lot of different things affected on my service game loss. But that's okay. It's all part of the game."
Djokovic learned a brutal lesson about how tough it is to win back-to-back Masters Series events during the March swing through the United States.
The last man to win coast-to-coast was Federer in 2005 and again in 2006.
Anderson fired seven aces but kept Djokovic off-balance throughout the two-hour, 20-minute upset.
"I made some unforced errors and I was maybe going for too much," said the Serb. "He's really tall, and with that height you expect him not to move so well."
"But he obviously has a good coordination. He has a good feel for the ball. So he's a good player," Djokovic said.
Number nine James Blake beat Italian Andreas Seppi 7-5, 6-3 while Paul-Henri Mathieu, 16th, stopped Croatian Marin Cilic 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
On the women's side, top seed Justine Henin rolled out a bulked-up serve, firing 10 aces in a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Angelique Kerber to reach the third round.
The Belgian world number one couldn't help but be pleased with her reinforced delivery, the result of a months worth of specialised training.
"I did spend a lot of time on my serve in the last few weeks," said the seven-time Grand Slam champion who has not played for a month since a Dubai quarter-final loss.
Russian third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova moved through after winning a battle with Chan Yung-jan, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0, while four-time champion Serena Williams was untroubled by Romanian Edina Gallovits 6-1, 6-2.
Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, the ninth seed, continued a poor run of form, losing her opening match to Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-1. Venus Williams, also a former champion, advanced over Marta Domachowska.
