It was not completely shocking that Serbian Dusan Lajovic, who had never beaten a Top 10 opponent (0-10), was nervous as he served on his second match point against one of the hottest players on the ATP World Tour.
But Lajovic played a patient baseline rally at 7/6 in the third set tie-break to outlast Juan Martin del Potro, the recent BNP Paribas Open champion, to send shockwaves through the Caja Mágica and clinch the biggest win of his career, a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) victory. Lajovic will look for his second Top 10 win in the quarter-finals against South African Kevin Anderson.
"It's for sure my best win, and definitely one of the best matches I've played. I really felt good on the court today," Lajovic said. "I felt I had my chances throughout the whole match. I was fighting from the first point till the last. It paid off."
The Serbian is into the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final of his career after previously holding just eight victories at this level in 15 main draw appearances. Before this tournament, the 27-year-old had just a 5-10 tour-level record this season. On the other hand, Del Potro, who was competing in his first clay-court event of the season, won 15 matches in a row from Acapulco through the Miami semi-finals (l. to Isner). He was also the first player to hand Roger Federer — who had been 17-0 — a loss this season in an epic final at Indian Wells.
But that did not keep Lajovic from holding his nerve. Del Potro earned two immediate mini-breaks in the deciding tie-break, surging to a 3/0 lead, which appeared insurmountable. But the Argentine made uncharacteristic forehand errors in the most crucial moments, allowing the Serbian to cling to hope. And despite failing to put a backhand return into play on his first match point, Lajovic stayed calm on his second, biding his time until Del Potro launched a crosscourt backhand long.
"I still am not believing it 100 per cent, but I know that I deserved to win today," Lajovic said. "I'm just feeling the whole week very good on the court, and everything is working so far. I just keep going with it."
Del Potro did not shy away from crediting Lajovic for his efforts.
"He's a very difficult opponent," Del Potro said. "Here on clay he plays really well. His game forced me to commit some easy errors, some important errors, especially in the tie-break."
The Serbian's next opponent, World No. 8 Anderson, had never made a deep run at the Mutua Madrid Open, losing his past three matches at the event before this week. But the 31-year-old is playing some of the best tennis of his career. And Anderson showed it to earn his first quarter-final appearance in Madrid with a 6-3, 7-6(7) triumph against German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Anderson has now reached the quarter-finals of all three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events he has played this year (also Indian Wells and Miami). He has also advanced to at least the quarter-finals in six of his eight tournaments overall, including a triumph at the inaugural New York Open and runner-up showings in Pune (l. to Simon) and Acapulco (l. to Del Potro).
The four-time ATP World Tour titlist had less difficulty against the experienced Kohlschreiber than he did in the second round, in which he faced break point at 4-4 in the second set, which if converted, would have allowed Mikhail Kukushkin to serve for the match.
But Anderson did not advance without a strong challenge from the Munich runner-up. The South African gained control of the baseline at the beginning of the match with aggressive returning, breaking the World No. 28 at his first attempt and consolidating for an early 3-0 lead, which he maintained to close out the opener.
But when Anderson appeared in cruise control in the second set, serving for the match while leading 6-3, 5-4, the battle took a turn. The No. 6 seed was unable to find his first serve on break point, allowing Kohlschreiber to pounce on a deep return that Anderson couldn’t handle. The German then earned two set points at 6/4 in the ensuing tie-break. But a strong serve out wide in the deuce court by Anderson and a shanked forehand by Kohlschreiber kept his hopes of a straight-sets win intact. A netted inside-out forehand by the 34-year-old clinched the victory for Anderson, and with it a 3-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead for the 6’8” right-hander.
Did You Know?
If Anderson outperforms John Isner and Dominic Thiem in Madrid, he will earn a new career-best in the ATP Rankings of at least World No. 7, depending on his own performance in the tournament.