Novak Djokovic triumphed for the third time on home soil when he defeated qualifier Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-3 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday afternoon. Djokovic, who last lifted a trophy at home in Serbia 10 years ago, got the job done after one hour and 28 minutes.
The world No. 1 was broken an alarming four times throughout the match, but he made up for it with six breaks of his own.
“It’s been a while since I last played (a final) here in front of the crowd,” Djokovic reflected. “It’s a wonderful feeling to be holding the trophy again after 10 years. It couldn’t be a better leadup to Roland Garros. It was great that I got to spend the week before Roland Garros here and play some great tennis.”
Molcan, ranked 255th, had never won a main-tour match prior to this week.
“I will try to enjoy the second place (finish) for the next (few) days,” the 23-year-old Czech commented.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Korda was even more dominant at the Emilia-Romagna Open than Djokovic was in Belgrade. Korda did not drop a single set all week or even get pushed to a tiebreaker. The 20-year-old American capped off his impressive run with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Marco Cecchinato on Saturday afternoon.
It is Korda’s first career ATP title in his second final (lost to Hubert Hurkacz earlier this season in Delray Beach).
“This is something that I’ve dreamed of,” the world No. 63 noted. “I really thought I was going to get it done in Delray Beach [earlier this year], and I was a little heartbroken. But I stayed positive, even with such a bad first part of the clay-court season. I took a couple of days off, recharged my batteries, and had a really good practice week in Prague with my dad and my coach. I came back hungrier, and I’m playing some really good tennis now.”
nice one, Korda