Dusan Lajovic surprises Andrey Rublev 6-3 4-6 6-4 in the final in Banja Luka on Sunday. The battle lasted 2 hours and 32 minutes. He won this tournament after playing this event for the first time in his career.
The Serbian added € 35,665 to his prize money after winning this final. He has earned € 85,605 in total after winning this tournament.
Highlights Dusan Lajovic vs. Andrey Rublev Srpska Open – Banja Luka
Stats: aces, double faults, breaks, winners
2h:32
At the end of the match, Lajovic scored 101 points vs. Andrey’s 98.
Lajovic
Lajovic served extremely well to win 75% of the points (47/63) behind his first serve. Anyhow he won only 35% points (11/31) on his second serve. The Serbian won this match even if he wasn’t that great in converting his break points after he converted only 40% (4/10) of the procured opportunities.
Rublev
On the other side, Rublev was not so effective in converting his break points (only 38% – 3/8). That was one of the key issues for his demise.
After this contest, the head to head between Lajovic and Rublev is 3-0 for Dusan.
This was the 2nd career title for Dusan. He won the previous title in Banja Luka. (see list of titles and finals). Andrey remains with 13th titles. (see list of titles and finals)
Live score progression and stats
Both players managed to hold their service games for the entire set. The only difference was just 1 break that the Serbian grabbed in the 4th game (3-1) just before ultimately conquering the set (6-3).
Lajovic converted 20% of his break points (1/5). He had 5 break points opportunities in the 4th game (2-1 40-A, 40-A, 40-A, 40-A and 40-A). On the other side, Andrey was unable to convert any of his 3 break points. He had 3 break points opportunities in the 1st game (0-0 0-40, 15-40 and 30-40).
They contested 66 points. This set was so close that, Lajovic won this set even if he scored the same amount of points as his opponent. Lajovic surrendered 9 points on serve (21-9). on the other side of the net, Rublev conceded 12 points on serve (24-12).
Lajovic had a head start at the beginning of the set to break Andrey Rublev in the 2nd game (2-0) before consolidating his break and lead 3-0. Nevertheless, there was more work to do for Rublev to win the set because the Serbian succeeded in breaking back in the 5th (2-3) game. Andrey kept his cool to break the Serbian in the 10th (6-4) game.
The Russian failed to serve out the set when leading 6-4 to be broken at 0.
The Russian was spot on in converting all his break points in the 1st (0-0 0-40 and 15-40) and the 10th game (5-4 30-40). On the other side, the Serbian was clinical in converting the only break point that he conquered in the 5th game (1-3 40-A).
They played 74 points. Andrey was the one to win the set after conquering 6 more points than Lajovic (40-34). The Russian lost 18 points on serve (26-18). on the other side of the court, the Serbian conceded 14 points on serve (16-14).
The Serbian won the set after he broke Rublev in the 3rd (2-1) and in the 5th (4-1) game. Rublev tried to stage a comeback breaking in the 8th (5-3) game. Nevertheless, Dusan refused to give way to conquer the set 6-4.
An important stage of this set was when Lajovic won 4 consecutive games in the 3rd set so as to bring the scoreline from 1-1 to 5-1.
Lajovic converted 50% of his break points (2/4). He had 4 break points opportunities in the 3rd (1-1 0-40) and the 5th game (3-1 30-40, 40-A and 40-A). In addition on the other side, Rublev converted 50% of his break points (1/2). He had his opportunities in the 3rd (1-2 30-40) and the 8th game (2-5 30-40).
They contested 59 points. Lajovic conquered the set after winning 9 more points than Andrey (34-25). Lajovic conceded 13 points on serve (21-13). On the other side, Rublev conceded 13 points on serve (12-13).
