Delbonis Outlasts Lajovic For Belgrade QF Berth
Federico Delbonis continued his successful Belgrade debut with an upset over home favourite Dusan Lajovic to reach the Serbia Open quarter-finals.
Fourth seed Lajovic was looking to become the fourth Serbian player to reach the quarter-finals at home, following World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, eighth seed Miomir Kecmanovic and fifth seed Filip Krajinovic. But the 30-year-old Argentine had other ideas, fighting through at the Novak Tennis Centre 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
“It was a pretty tough match, I think we both played some really good tennis in different parts of the match,” Delbonis said. “The third set was a bit strange, but finally I could take the last game. Otherwise, I think it [could have been] very tough for me after the huge advantage that I had in the third [set].”
Delbonis stayed calm as his opponent rallied in the second set and broke the Argentine, who was serving for the match at 5-2 in the third. Lajovic saved five match points and even fought his way to another break point in a marathon final game, but Delbonis closed it out after two hours and 24 minutes.
Up next, Delbonis will face a Japanese lucky loser in the quarter-finals after Taro Daniel rallied from a set down to topple seventh seed John Millman 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Sitting at No. 126 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, Daniel lost a tough battle to Gianluca Mager earlier this week in the final round of qualifying. But he made good on his second shot in Belgrade, taking down World No. 43 Millman in two hours and 14 minutes to book a spot into his first tour-level quarter-final since Tokyo 2019.
[WATCH LIVE 1]“It feels great, especially since I came in as a lucky loser,” Daniel said in an on-court interview. “I mean, the day I lost [in qualies] I had two beers and I was lifting weights in the gym here. And then suddenly, ‘Okay, you go on court in 10 minutes.’ I was surprised.
“I’m playing free, I’m making a lot of efforts off court as well, which I think are paying off. But it’s a day-by-day process.”
Delbonis and Daniel will meet on clay for the second time in the quarter-finals. The Japanese player owns a 1-0 lead in their ATP Head2Head, facing off for the first time since Vina del Mar in 2014. Daniel edged through that encounter in a three-set battle, 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(7).