Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Banja Luka Open on Friday as he suffered his first defeat at the hands of countryman Dusan Lajovic. The lower-ranked Serb produced an impressive performance to win 6-4 7-6(6) and send the top seed packing at the quarter-final stage.
Djokovic was looking to bounce back after surviving a scare in his opening match, where he dropped a set to 18-year-old Luca Van Assche. There were already positive signs as he took to the court without the elbow strapping he had been wearing in recent days but it was Lajovic who got off to a fast start, breaking his countryman in the third game of the match.
The world No 70 then saved three break-back points to take a 3-1 lead – already the most games he had ever won in a set against Djokovic. The world No 1’s struggle to convert break points became the story of the first set as another three break points came and went in Lajovic’s next service game.
He finally managed to get himself back on serve as he earned a long-awaited break to draw level at 4-4 but immediately relinquished the break back to Lajovic. With the lower-ranked Serb serving for the set, Djokovic was unable to convert three more break points as Lajovic closed it out 6-4 in exactly an hour.
Djokovic started to repeat the same pattern in set number two as he blew three more break points in Lajovic’s opening service game and kept trying to fix his racket. Both Lajovic and Djokovic then failed to convert two break points each, and the top seed was staring down the barrel of defeat as he went 0-40 down at 4-4.
He won five points in a row to deny his countryman the chance to serve for the set before the physio briefly came to court to hand the top seed medication, with commentators suggesting he could be struggling with allergies. At the next changeover it was Lajovic who needed medical attention for a blister on his foot but he held and after 77 minutes the second set went to a tiebreak.
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