KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. _ The Miami Open suffered a double blow on Saturday, as both the men's and women's top seeds were eliminated far earlier than anyone expected.
Defending champion Roger Federer was beaten 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) by 175th-ranked qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia. Kokkinakis is the lowest ranked player to topple a world No. 1 in 15 years.
The loss means Federer, who has spent 308 weeks at No. 1 over his career, will lose the top ranking to Rafael Nadal, who is injured and skipping the Miami Open. Federer said he will skip the clay season to prepare for Wimbledon.
Asked how he felt about losing the top spot, Federer said: "I deserve it after this match. That's how I feel. It's so bad."
On the women's side, top-ranked Simona Halep was ousted 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 by Agnieszka Radwanska.
Federer won the first set with relative ease, but made uncharacteristic errors in the second set, and Kokkinakis took advantage with his big serve and powerful forehand.
"Look, it's disappointing," Federer said. "I could never get to a level I was happy with, but sometimes you have these matches and sometimes you find a way through it, and today I couldn't ... he was just a bit better than me (Saturday). He was a bit more relaxed, I was in search mode the whole match and never got anything going."
Federer said mistakes in the second set proved costly.
"It felt like every time I had chances, something bad happened for me, wrong decision making by me, good decision making by him," he said. "Just felt like I could be paying the price for opportunities missed. It started in the second set, I played bad really bad 10 minutes and that cost me the second set and maybe the match."
Kokkinakis, 21, considered quitting tennis last year after a rash of injuries, which made Saturday's huge victory even sweeter.
"This is unreal, I'm not gonna lie," Kokkinakis said on the court after the match. "I rushed at the beginning, but as the match went on, I felt I had a legit chance to win this thing. A year ago I was hating tennis, and now, this is unbelievable. It doesn't get any better than this.
Kokkinakis had practiced with Federer in Dubai on several occasions, so the two knew each other well, though they had never faced each other on tour.
"He's a cool guy, cool demeanor, and I always liked his game, so I'm happy for him that on a big stage he was able to show it, on center court Miami, people watching, beating me, it's a big result in his career and I hope it launches him to get his ranking up," Federer said.
In other matches, German fourth seed Alexander Zverev defeated Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5). Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov got past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 7-5. Croatian Borna Coric rallied to beat Argentinian Leo Mayer 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4. And American Frances Tiafoe was two points from losing but managed to beat Kyle Edmund 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5).
Former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, back from maternity leave, beat Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
