MARSEILLE, France (AFP) - Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, who suffered a crippling fever on Davis Cup duty at the weekend, slumped to defeat at the Marseille Open on Thursday.
The Serbian top seed, and world number three, playing his first match since suffering from flu at the Davis Cup World Group clash against Russia in Moscow, fell 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 to unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.
Djokovic missed three days of practice ahead of last week's tie and was forced to skip his opening singles rubber in Moscow.
Despite opening up a two-set lead over Nikolay Davydenko in Sunday's reverse singles, the 20-year-old was forced to retire as his legs got heavier and his body more weary.
"I wasn't 100 percent," said Djokovic. "When you aren't 100 percent against a player like Simon, you cannot win."
Second-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet also made an unscheduled early exit losing to Sweden's world number 52 Robin Soderling 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Gasquet, the world number seven, had been beaten by the Swede in the quarter-finals of the tournament last year.
Soderling will now take on Croatia's Mario Ancic who put out Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round on Wednesday.
Simon, the world number 30, broke Djokovic in the seventh game of the first set which he took in 25 minutes. The Serb led 4-1 in the second set tie-break before having to save a match point on his way to levelling the tie.
The Serbian star was visibly weakening in the third set and at 4-1 down in the final set he was forced to call the trainer to the court.
Simon duly wrapped up the set and the match and will now face eighth-seeded compatriot Paul-Henri Mathieu, who put out another Frenchman, Michael Llodra 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5) in the last eight.
Meanwhile fourth seed Andy Murray struggled to beat Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 in the second round.
The match, a repeat of the Qatar Open final earlier this year which Murray also won, became one-sided in the final set when the Briton motored to victory. Murray had beaten Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean in the first round.
