Lajovic Beats Medvedev, Reaches Maiden Masters 1000 Final

Dusan Lajovic defeated Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-1 on Saturday in a battle of first-time ATP Masters 1000 semi-finalists, winning 12 of the final 13 games to reach the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters final.

The World No. 48 is the lowest-ranked Monte-Carlo finalist since No. 53 Hicham Arazi in 2001, advancing after one hour and 35 minutes. He converted six of 12 break points en route to victory. Lajovic is only the second player to reach his first tour-level final at an ATP Masters 1000 event since 2013. Lajovic’s countryman, Filip Krajinovic, achieved the feat at the 2017 Rolex Paris Masters final (l. to Sock).

Lajovic is yet to drop a set in the Principality this week. The Serbian has defeated Malek Jaziri, David Goffin, Dominic Thiem, Lorenzo Sonego and Medvedev en route to the championship match.

Lajovic had never won four consecutive tour-level matches before arriving at the Monte-Carlo Country Club this week. But with his fifth straight win, the 28-year-old is one win away from his first ATP Tour title.

Standing between Lajovic and the trophy will be 11-time champion Rafael Nadal or two-time Monte-Carlo semi-finalist Fabio Fognini. Lajovic trails Nadal 0-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series and has never met Fognini at tour-level.

It was a windy day on Court Rainier III, with Medvedev playing consistently from the baseline and taking advantage of early Lajovic errors to storm to a 5-1 lead. When presented with an opportunity, the Russian transitioned to net well, appearing in good position to reach his maiden Masters 1000 final.

But his serving, typically a strength, became his undoing. Medvedev won just 42 per cent of his first serve points. By comparison, he earned 70 per cent of his first-serve points in his quarter-final win against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Later in the first set and increasingly as the match wore on, Lajovic found his range, hitting with depth on his returns to earn opportunities to attack with his forehand. After Lajovic levelled the first set at 5-5, Medvedev had only managed to land 39 per cent of his first serves. Varying the pace on his backhand, the Serbian claimed his third consecutive break to serve for the set at 6-5 and converted his third set point with a deep cross-court forehand.

Lajovic rode the momentum into the second set, charging into a 4-0 lead with great court coverage and anticipation to claim his 10th straight game. The unseeded Serbian continued to find success on his forehand and, shortly after Medvedev held serve to end the run of 10 games against him, Lajovic claimed victory with a deep backhand slice as the 10th seed fired a backhand beyond the baseline.

Medvedev was bidding to reach his first Masters 1000 final following back-to-back wins against Top 10 opposition. The 23-year-old defeated sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to reach the last four, extending his tour-leading win total in 2019 to 21 (21-7).