Banja Luka Open: Lajovic confirms form after Djokovic win, dismisses Kecmanovic to reach final

Dusan Lajovic didn’t stop at beating Novak Djokovic on Friday but fought for three hours in order to get over the finish line before No 4 seed and compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic (4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4) on Saturday. He will now try to upset one more seed on his way, but should be in for a rough one, on Sunday against Andrey Rublev, the second seed.

It’s left to be seen how he will now recover from his past two matches because he has already spent lots of physical and emotional energy out there this week. On Friday, he came back from a set and a break down as Kecmanovic, who played the finals of Delray Beach and Estoril this season, was even serving for the match at 5-4 in that second set. The thriller went on through the third set as Lajovic lost his break (4-2, 4-4) but recovered to win the last two games of the match.

Lajovic, 32 and winner of Umag in 2019, had all the experience in the world to get out of a really tricky situation today and it showed. His very complete game with a touch that suits clay incredibly well, as already seen through his 2019 run to the final in Monte-Carlo, did the rest against Kecmanovic, 23, who is clearly on the rise for a couple of years but still needs a stronger hand on the biggest points.

In the previous rounds of the Banja Luka tournament, Dusan Lajovic defeated Filip Krajinovic (6-2, 4-6, 6-4), Frenchman Gregoire Barrere, the No 8 seed (6-3, 6-0) and top seed Novak Djokovic (6-4, 7-6 (6)). Kecmanovic, ranked No 33, won against Jordanian qualifier Abdullah Shelbayh (6-4, 7-6 (4)) and Czech Jiri Lehecka, the No 6 seed (7-5, 6-0) earlier in the tournament.

Banja Luka ATP250, other semi-final results (Tennis Klub Mladost, clay, EUR 562.815):

• Andrey Rublev beat Alex Molcan: 6-2, 6-4