Belgrade: World No. 3 Dominic Thiem defeated Filip Krajinovic 4-3 (7-2), 2-4, 4-2 to win the first leg of Adria Tour tennis tournament held in Serbia.
In the final match of the tournament played on Sunday, Thiem had a hard time with Krajinovic in the first set but managed to win it after a tie-break, reports Xinhua news agency.
Krajinovic, currently ranked 32nd in the world, surprised Thiem with a 3-1 lead in the second, and set the score even.
However, his opponent showed more strength in the third set and marked a 2-1 victory.
The regional charity tennis tournament was staged here for two days from June 13-14 under a round robin system, in the organisation of the world’s top tennis player Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic missed the finals as he suffered a 1-2 defeat yesterday by Krajinovic and ended up as the second in the group, ahead of Alexander Zverev and Viktor Troicki.
Thiem’s road to finals led across Damir Dzumhur (2-0), Dusan Lajovic (2-1) and Grigor Dimitrov (2-0). The second leg of the Adria Tour will be held in Zadar, Croatia, on June 20-21, while the conclusion will take place in Bosnia and Herzegovina in early July.
Although a leg was also scheduled to take place in Podgorica, Montenegro, it was cancelled on Saturday due to coronavirus protocol rules for entering that country.
On the other hand, World No.1 Novak Djokovic broke down in tears following his victory over Alexander Zverev in the Adria Open exhibition tour event on Sunday.
Despite beating Zverev, Djokovic failed to progress into the next round of the event, which is sponsored by his own foundation.
Djokovic, Zverev and Filip Kranjinovic had similar win-loss ratio after the conclusion of round-robin matches but the latter entered the next round on the basis of best games differential out of the three players.
Djokovic, who broke down in tears after a win in his last match, stated he isn’t crying because he has been ousted from the tournament but because of the memories that came back while playing at the venue.
“I was very emotional on the court today. Childhood memories started flooding back, including those of growing up on these courts and playing here as a young boy,” Djokovic said after the end of the match as per Tennis.com.
“I was overwhelmed and those were tears of joy after the match. I try to give back to where I come from and be conscious of my childhood and my upbringing.
“This tennis was an epicentre of people from my childhood days getting together for this tournament, including my former coaches. They were all here,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Montenegro leg of the tour has been cancelled looking at coronavirus crisis. Djokovic confirmed the same to 4,000 spectators present at the venue.
“I am so sad for the Montenegro leg. We tried everything, but the borders are still not open and we don’t have time to organize it all.” (IANS)
