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Serbian clinches second tour-level crown
Dusan Lajovic capped a dream week at the Srpska Open on Sunday when he clinched his second tour-level title in Banja Luka. The Serbian overcame Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 32 minutes to snap the second seed’s eight-match winning streak.

Lajovic, who clawed past Miomir Kecmanovic in three sets in the semi-finals, came out firing in his first tour-level title match of the season. He struck the ball aggressively to pull Rublev around and held his nerve in the third set, serving out the match at the second time of asking to earn his eighth Top 10 win.

"Honestly it was probably the toughest match I have had in the past six months. I felt drained," Lajovic said. "From 5-1 in the third I could not feel my legs and felt a bit dizzy. I knew he was going to fight but somehow I managed to pull it out in the last game. I wasn't even thinking in the last game. I was just playing automatically and I tried to take the ball early on the forehand. I am thrilled and overwhelmed that I did it this week, that I won an ATP [Tour] title.

"The last time I was in a final was four years ago and I have been through a lot since then, lots of ups and downs. This was probably the most unexpected thing for me for this week. But on the other side I still believed in myself, even though I did not have the best last year. This victory means a lot."


The 32-year-old now leads Rublev 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, having also beaten the 25-year-old en route to his maiden tour-level crown in Umag in 2019. He is up 30 spots to No. 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his impressive week at the clay-court ATP 250.

Lajovic upset World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. With his victory against World No. 6 Andrey Rublev, the Serbian has defeated two Top 10 opponents at the same event for the first time in his career.

Rublev was aiming to win his second title of the season after clinching his maiden ATP Masters 1000 trophy in Monte-Carlo last week. The 25-year-old is currently sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

In an entertaining final, Lajovic played well under pressure, saving all three break points he faced in the first set to lead. After a dip at the start of the second set, the Serbian produced his best level in the third set, limiting errors from the baseline to earn his 14th win of the year on his third championship point.

ATPTour.com looks at the top Movers of the Week in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, as of Monday, 24 April 2023
A three-tournament week on the ATP Tour saw Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Dusan Lajovic lift trophies in Barcelona, Munich and Banja Luka, respectively. ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as of Monday, 24 April 2023.

View Pepperstone ATP Rankings

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No. 40 Dusan Lajovic, +30
The Serbian has jumped 30 spots after he won his second tour-level title at the Srpska Open in Banja Luka. Lajovic overcame World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and World No. 6 Andrey Rublev en route to the title to earn two Top 10 wins at the same event for the first time. The 32-year-old has now won two tour-level crowns, having triumphed on clay in Umag in 2019. Read Banja Luka Final Report & Watch Highlights.

No. 58 Alex Molcan, +15
The 25-year-old has climbed 15 places after reaching his first semi-final of the season in Banja Luka. The Slovakian, who reached a career-high No. 38 last May, earned three consecutive three-set wins before falling against Andrey Rublev.

No. 93 Dominic Thiem, +8
The Austrian has returned to the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings after he enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals at the BMW Open by American Express in Munich. Thiem, who also advanced to the last eight in Estoril earlier this month, defeated Constant Lestienne and Marc-Andrea Huesler at the ATP 250 clay-court event.

Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 3 Daniil Medvedev, +1
No. 11 Frances Tiafoe, +1 (Career High)
No. 61 Marcos Giron, + 7
No. 70 Laslo Djere, +8
No. 73 Cristian Garin, +13
No. 74 Nuno Borges, +5
No. 75 Alexei Popyrin, +6
No. 87 Juan Pablo Varillas, +5

Serbian extends winning streak to seven with second-round win
Dusan Lajovic is running red hot on the European clay.

The Serbian notched his third Top 10 win in the space of nine days on Saturday at the Mutua Madrid Open by taking out seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5).

Lajovic clinched an enthralling second-round encounter with a stunning start to the deciding-set tie-break. He charged to a 5/0 lead against a tight Auger-Aliassime, who then threatened a remarkable comeback but was unable to prevent Lajovic converting his sixth match point for a two-hour, 34-minute win.

“It was super tight at the end,” said Lajovic, who had let slip his first two match points at 6-5 on the Auger-Aliassime serve in the final set. “I was just hoping that he was going to stay back on my serve, because when he was coming in, I was feeling a lot of pressure.

“We opened up the last point. I tried to play heavy on my forehand but because my hand was tight, it was really going short until in the end [one] came up well.”


Lajovic defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 6 Andrey Rublev en route to his second ATP Tour title in Banja Luka last week. He is now 16-7 for 2023 and 3-0 against Auger-Aliassime, having beaten the Canadian at the 2020 ATP Cup and in Toronto in 2021.

“Today in the match I really felt like I was going in to show my game," said Lajovic, when asked about his hat-trick of Top 10 wins. "I knew I would have chances if I played my best tennis. It’s really a good feeling to have this much confidence, but I need to be also very careful because it is so easy to lose confidence, especially in tennis.”