Andy Murray was stunned in his opening match at Indian Wells by a man ranked 128 places below him, losing 6-4 7-6 (7-4) to Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil on Saturday night.
It was, without a doubt, the biggest singles victory of his career for Pospisil, who spun around and flung away his racket after smacking a forehand winner to convert his fourth match point. Pospisil's best accomplishment in tennis to date was winning a Wimbledon doubles title with Jack Sock of the US in 2014.
There really was little reason to believe beforehand that Murray would have so much trouble Saturday. He is, after all, ranked No.1, owns three grand slam singles titles and two Olympic singles golds, has about $55 million more in career earnings than Pospisil and a 45-0 edge in singles trophies.
Plus, Murray had won all four previous head-to-head matchups.
But Pospisil attacked second serves with great success this time and broke Murray four times - three in the opening set alone - while also keeping him off-balance with strong net play.
"Some years I've played well. Some years it just hasn't quite happened for me," Murray said of his struggles in California.
"I don't know exactly why that is. I don't know if it's the conditions. I really don't know why I haven't played my best here over the years."
The tone was established early on in the second-round match. Murray, who had a bye in the first round, broke Pospisil twice in the opening set, but gave that edge back each time, winning only one of nine second-serve points in that set.
Pospisil broke again to open the third, then held for 2-0 and had two break points to go up 3-0 after Murray double-faulted for the sixth time. But Murray held there, then broke back, and was steadier until the tiebreaker.
Yet another double-fault gave Pospisil a 3-1 lead, and he stretched that to 6-2, before relenting just a bit on the way to the upset.
"It's an amazing feeling," said Pospisil.
"I had a tough year last year for many, many different reasons.
"I feel the last couple months I really found my hunger and my motivation to be back on the court training hard again."
Other seeded men losing Saturday: No.7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No.19 Ivo Karlovic and No. 30 Feliciano Lopez.
Self-effacing Italian Fabio Fognini won a battle of expectant fathers when he beat Tsonga 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-4 in the second round.
Unseeded Fognini survived a first-set tiebreak and a tense final set before upsetting the seventh-seeded Frenchman in a match that stretched nearly two hours and 30 minutes in the blazing afternoon sun at Indian Wells.
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