Novak Djokovic Crashes Out Of Monte Carlo Masters In The Quarterfinals

Second seed Novak Djokovic fell 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 on Friday to David Goffin at the Monte Carlo Masters to join a growing list of high-profile upset victims. The Serb World No 2 joined No 1 Andy Murray and third seed Stan Wawrinka in suffering an early exit at the first main clay court lead-up event to the French Open where Djokovic is the defending champion. Goffin will play either nine-time champion Rafael Nadal or Argentina's Diego Schwartzman for a place in Sunday's final.

Belgian 10th seed Goffin needed five match points to defeat Djokovic having lost all of his previous five meetings against the 12-time Grand Slam champion.

Novak Djokovic has endured a torturous 2017 till date having crashed out in the second round of the Australian Open, and then failing to go beyond the quarters at Acapulco and Indian Wells. An elbow injury ruled him out of Miami Open. Djokovic had also struggled in the previous two rounds against Gilles Simon and Pablo Carreno Busta, at Monte Carlo.

Meanwhile, Albert Ramos-Vinolas scored his second straight upset as the 15th seed beat tournament No 5 Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2.

After dumping out Murray in the third round the day before, the diminutive Spaniard returned to knock-out mode as he tamed Cilic to surge into the first Masters 1000 semi-final of his career.

He will Saturday face Frenchman Lucas Pouille who came from behind in the final set to overhaul Pablo Cuevas 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours; the Uruguayan lost serve seven times.