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Tuesday April 23, 2024

Lajovic overhauls Medvedev to reach Monte Carlo final

By AFP
April 20, 2019


MONTE CARLO, Principality of Monaco: Unseeded Dusan Lajovic scored a wind-blown 7-5, 6-1 victory over Daniil Medvedev at the Monte Carlo Masters on Saturday to reach his first career final.

The 48th-ranked Serb will face the winner from the other semi-final between 11-time champion Rafael Nadal and Italy´s 13th seed Fabio Fognini.

The match was played in a distracting, swirling conditions, with Lajovic making a recovery from 5-1 down after changing strategy when his Russian opponent had the upper hand.

Lajovic ran off 10 straight games to claim the opening set in an hour and take a 4-0 lead in the second.

"I was completely out of rhythm, to start. It was the worst nightmare, being 5-1 down," Lajovic said.

"It was impossible for us to play real tennis," he added. "I started moving to the ball.

"Before I had been waiting to see where it was going, this was the turning point.

"I´m still unaware of reaching the final, but I´m enjoying it," added the player who has not dropped a set all week.

"I´m looking forward to playing the final, No matter whom I play I will be the total underdog.

A shell-shocked Medvedev exited in 95 minutes.

The Russian came to the semis after knocking out top seeded world number one Novak Djokovic 24 hours earlier.