Djokovic crashes out of Toronto Masters

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France returns the ball to Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's third round match at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Toronto, Canada. (AP/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)

TORONTO, Canada: World number one Novak Djokovic slumped to a lacklustre 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Toronto Masters third round on Thursday (Aug 7) and was joined at the exit door by third-seeded doubles partner Stan Wawrinka.

Newly-married Djokovic, who needed almost three hours to get past Gael Monfils in his opening tie this week, looked under-prepared against Tsonga, the powerful French 13th seed.

Wimbledon champion Djokovic finished with 18 unforced errors and dropped serve four times. Tsonga saved a break point in the final game of the 63-minute rout, with the heavy hitter pounding over a serve which Djokovic could not handle on match point.

Djokovic came to Canada having won five of the last six Masters events he had contested. Thursday's loss was only his fifth of the season against 38 wins.

The victory marked the third time that Tsonga had beaten a world number one after putting out Rafael Nadal at Queen's three years ago and defeating Roger Federer in Canada in 2009.

Tsonga also fired eight aces in victory and next plays Andy Murray who made the quarter-finals without hitting a ball when scheduled opponent Richard Gasquet, the French 12th seed, withdrew with an abdominal strain.

South Africa's Kevin Anderson beat Australian Open champion Wawrinka 7-6 (10/8), 7-5. "It was an okay match, for sure, but it's tough to lose that one," said Wawrinka, who will now head for the Cincinnati Masters next week, his final tune-up for the US Open which gets under way on August 25.

"In general he served really well. It was tough to return, a little bit windy. But I had some chances, especially in the first set. I had set point and two, three times Love-30. It was more about choosing the right shot to play. I made some mistakes that I shouldn't have."