The Serbian, the 20-times Grand Slam champion, started the year on a rocky basis as he was unable to defend his Australian Open title in January following being dumped from the country.
Djokovic, who had played three previous matches in Dubai before entering the 1,000-point tournament in Monaco, struggled to show his form initially, with Spaniard Davidovic Fokina leading 4-1 before sealing the first set.
The world number 46 broke his opponent’s serve at the start of the second set, leading 3-0, but Djokovic came back strong and took the set following a tiebreak.
And Davidovic Fokina raised his level in the third set, and took advantage of Djokovic’s mistakes to win a surprise victory over his Serbian opponent.
