Shanghai, November 13:

Eighth-ranked Richard Gasquet stunned No 3 Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday at the Masters Cup, all but ending the Serbian player’s run with a match remaining in round-robin play.

The 20-year-old Djokovic, the clear crowd favorite early, looked off in virtually every phase of his game, overhitting his usually reliable forehand and having trouble with his strong serve to fall to 0-2 in the tournament that features the top eight men’s singles players.

He started off listless and was increasingly disconsolate as the match wore on. Because he has yet to win a set, he was mathematically eliminated from any chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Gasquet, the last player to make the elite field, rebounded from a first-up loss in the Gold Group to second-ranked Rafael Nadal. After Djokovic held serve to open the match, Gasquet ran off four games in a row to take command. Djokovic got one break back, but the deficit

was too much to overcome. He was looking toward his supporters for some kind of answers as Gasquet held at love to take the set.

The second set was much of the same, with Gasquet breaking three more times. Djokovic, tossing his racket in frustration at one point, won only six of his 19 service points in the set and hit a backhand wide for his 27th unforced error on match point.

Top-ranked Roger Federer lost his opening match on Monday night, going down to No 7 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 to snap his 15-0 record in round-robin play at the season-ending tournament.