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 first 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 in the Grandstand to defeat Sinner, who showed signs of fatigue but still lost in the Serbian qualifier.
“Obviously I know it’s going to be difficult because whenever you play someone who is in good form and has a lot of confidence, they play well in the important moments,” Lajovic said. “You can see that, he saves a lot of break points and everything when it’s close, he’s there.
“I know I’ve been serving really well the last two days, so I thought if I continue to use my serve, both the flat and the kick out, I can dominate the point after the serve . This is what I usually do in my service games… I’m happy to finish in two sets because I know that facing three sets against these types of players, it’s always more difficult.
Four wins this week ?
Four Top 10 wins in a row ?qualifications @Dutzee dismissed Toronto champion Sinner 6-4 7-6(4) with dominant performance@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/hxwLDhccKC
– ATP Tour (@atptour) August 16, 2023
Lajovic’s excellent all-around performance included winning 100 percent (16/16) of net points and saving all five break points he faced. It was his fourth consecutive win against Top 10 opponents, following his wins over Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev en route to the title in Banja Luka and his victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime in Madrid.
“I started to change a lot of things about me,” said Lajovic, when asked about the secret of his recent success against the top players on the Tour. “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 difficult and especially when you are over 30.
“We are very established as what we are [at that age], so the change took a lot of effort, but it started working. I started playing this time very well. I had a bad season with chicken pox, which I got in Paris and didn’t until Wimbledon, and it took me a few weeks to get back on track. Now I’m back where I was before.”
The World No. 66 Lajovic had not won a match in four tries in Cincinnati before losing to 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 favorite Taylor Fritz, in the third round.