Former world No.1 Novak Djokovic's comeback attempt to the top-draw of world tennis suffered a big blow as he was knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters by a spirited Dominic Thiem in the third round on Thursday. The 5th-seeded Austrian came back from one set down to win the match against his fancied rival 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-3 on the clay of Monaco.

Interestingly, 30-year-old Djokovic, who has still not reached a quarter-final since Wimbledon last July after struggling with a right elbow injury, has struggled to regain his vintage form even though he made a promising start in the match. Although he took the first set to tie-breaker before reaching the 7-point mark with ease to win the set, 24-year-old Thiem fought back strongly and completely overpowered his 12-time Grand Slam champion rival without burning any sweat.

Djokovic had recently said he was pain-free in Monte Carlo for the first time in two years but Thiem, who registered a French Open quarter-final win over the Serbian last year, denied him the chance to make a valiant comeback.