In-Form Lajovic Ousts Auger-Aliassime In Madrid

Dusan Lajovic is running red hot on the European clay.

The Serbian notched his third Top 10 win in the space of nine days on Saturday at the Mutua Madrid Open by taking out seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5).

Lajovic clinched an enthralling second-round encounter with a stunning start to the deciding-set tie-break. He charged to a 5/0 lead against a tight Auger-Aliassime, who then threatened a remarkable comeback but was unable to prevent Lajovic converting his sixth match point for a two-hour, 34-minute win.

“It was super tight at the end,” said Lajovic, who had let slip his first two match points at 6-5 on the Auger-Aliassime serve in the final set. “I was just hoping that he was going to stay back on my serve, because when he was coming in, I was feeling a lot of pressure.

“We opened up the last point. I tried to play heavy on my forehand but because my hand was tight, it was really going short until in the end [one] came up well.”

A stunning display of tennis from @Dutzee as he triumphs over Auger-Aliassime 6-2 3-6 7-6 in Madrid 🙌@MutuaMadridOpen | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/2l1XWoxGN2

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 29, 2023

Lajovic defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 6 Andrey Rublev en route to his second ATP Tour title in Banja Luka last week. He is now 16-7 for 2023 and 3-0 against Auger-Aliassime, having beaten the Canadian at the 2020 ATP Cup and in Toronto in 2021.

“Today in the match I really felt like I was going in to show my game,” said Lajovic, when asked about his hat-trick of Top 10 wins. “I knew I would have chances if I played my best tennis. It’s really a good feeling to have this much confidence, but I need to be also very careful because it is so easy to lose confidence, especially in tennis.”

The World No. 40 will play Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round at the Caja Magica, where he now holds a 7-4 record. The German lucky loser Struff also held his nerve in a deciding set on Saturday to down 32nd seed Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.

As well as Auger-Aliassime, there were also second-round defeats for seeded players Tommy Paul and Daniel Evans on Saturday in Madrid.

Qualifier Roman Safiullin took down the 14th-seeded Paul 6-3, 7-6(3) to advance to the third round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time. Safiullin saved both break points he faced in his 99-minute win against Paul, and the 25-year-old has now risen two spots to No. 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in the Spanish capital.

Safiullin’s next opponent is Bernabe Zapata Miralles. The home favourite brushed past 19th seed Evans 6-3, 6-2 to ensure a Spanish presence remains in the bottom half of the Madrid draw.