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Serbian downs Toronto champion in straight sets
Dusan Lajovic brought a stark reminder of the highs and lows of ATP Tour tennis on Wednesday at the Western & Southern Open.

Just three days after Jannik Sinner lifted his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto, Lajovic defeated the Italian 6-4, 7-6(4) in Cincinnati. The Serbian produced a stunning display of clean hitting on Grandstand to overwhelm Sinner, who showed signs of fatigue but was nonetheless outplayed by the Serbian qualifier.

“I obviously knew that it was going to be tough because whenever you are playing somebody who is in great form and has a lot of confidence, they play well in the important moments,” said Lajovic. “You could see that, he was saving so many break points and everything when it was close, he was there.

“I knew I had been serving very well the past couple of days, so I thought if I continue to use my serve, both with the flat and the kick out wide, I could dominate the point after the serve. This is what I did most of the time in my service games… I was happy to finish in two sets because I know that going three sets against these kinds of players, it’s always going to be much tougher.”


Lajovic’s superb all-around performance included winning 100 per cent (16/16) of points at the net and saving all five break points he faced. It was his fourth straight victory against Top 10 opponents, following his wins against Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev en route to the title in Banja Luka and his victory against Felix Auger-Aliassime in Madrid.

“I’ve started changing a lot of things about me,” said Lajovic, when asked about the secret behind his recent success against the Tour’s top players. “This year I started doing a lot of mental health training, with a therapist and everything, and I started to change some things about myself, which is always hard and especially when you are over 30.

“We are very established as what we are [at that age], so changing takes great effort, but it started working. I started playing this season really well. I had unfortunate timing with chicken pox, which I got in Paris and was out until Wimbledon, and it took me a couple more weeks to get back on track. Now I’m finally back where I was before.”

The World No. 66 Lajovic had not won a match in four attempts in Cincinnati prior to defeating Francisco Cerundolo in the first round on Monday. The 33-year-old will look to continue his run in Ohio by upsetting another Top 10 player, home favourite Taylor Fritz, in the third round.

More than eight years since their previous meeting, Dusan Lajovic and Stan Wawrinka reignited their Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry Wednesday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. It was Serbia’s Lajovic who rode a fast start to his maiden victory against the Swiss former World No. 3.

Lajovic prevailed 6-4, 7-6(7) on Shanghai’s Stadium Court to complete the set of winning a main-draw match at each of the nine ATP Masters 1000 events. The World No. 54 broke Wawrinka’s serve in the opening game en route to the first set and saved a set point in the second-set tie-break before wrapping a one-hour, 53-minute triumph.


Lajovic, who lifted his second ATP Tour title in April in Banja Luka, struck 16 winners and just seven unforced errors to outlast Wawrinka in a one-handed backhand battle to move to 1-2 in tour-level meetings against the Swiss. The Serbian has now won eight of his past nine matches against Top 50 opponents, and he will have the chance to improve that record further in the second round in Shanghai when he takes on 23rd seed Tallon Griekspoor.