There will be a new king of the Australian Open–at least in 2017.

For the second time in their last seven installments of this Grand Slam event, someone other than Novak Djokovic will lift the winner’s trophy. The defending champion was knocked out in hard-to-believe fashion by Denis Istomin during second-round action on Thursday afternoon in Melbourne. Istomin came out of the gates on fire and finished even stronger to produce a stunning 7-6(8), 5-6, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 upset after four hours and 50 minutes of play

The Uzbek did not even earn direct entry into the main draw of the Aussie Open and had to win the Asia Pacific Wild-Card Playoff just to get in. He did just that, but not before being forced to save four match points against someone named Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the semifinals.

Hindsight being 20/20, Djokovic sure wishes Istomin had lost.

Playing the match of his life from completely out of the blue, the world No. 117 crushed 17 aces and recorded more winners than errors (63 to 61) against arguably the best defensive opponent in all of tennis. Istomin won seven fewer total points (186 to 193) than Djokovic but got the best of both tiebreakers and came up with three clutch holds after breaking the world No. 2 for a 3-2 advantage in the fifth set.

“It is unreal,” Istomin said. “To beat Novak in five sets, it’s a great win. I didn’t expect what I’m doing now and what I did on the court. Actually, if you don’t think that you have a chance, then (there’s) no reason to come on court.

“I would say, ‘Are you crazy or what,” Istomin responded after being asked what he would say if somebody told him at the start of this year that he would defeat Djokovic at the Australian Open. “Especially in five sets, for sure. For me, (it) was impossible to think about that I can hold it (for) five sets with Novak, physically and mentally. So I did well today.”

“All the credit to Denis for playing amazing,” Djokovic noted. “He deserved to win. No doubt, he was a better player in the clutch moments. He stepped it up, played aggressive, served very well, very precise. There’s not much I could do. Of course, I was not pleased with my performance overall. But I have to congratulate my opponent today.”

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