TENNIS in DEPTH.

The ATP World Tour 250 event top seed captured his fifth title in 2011, and 23rd in his career, with a 7-6(4), 6-2 victory over world no.37 Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in 1 hour and 56 minutes on Sunday. This is Nole’s second triumph at his hometown tournament. He lifted the trophy at the inaugural Serbia Open 2009. The opening set went into a tie-breaker. The 23-year-old Belgrade native took it 7-4. It turned out to be crucial for the outcome of the final. Lopez was broken twice in the second set, in the third and seventh games. Nole served out the match 6-2.

Novak has won every tournament he’s entered in 2011: the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami and now Belgrade. He increased his overall winning streak to 29 wins in a row, dating back to last December’s Davis Cup final. The best Serbian tennis player of all time has improved to a perfect 27-0 this season and is only two matches short of equalling Ivan Lendl’s 29-0 start in 1986.

Bookmark It

Novak Djokovic goes into the final with a perfect 26-0 match record on the season and will look to capture his fifth title when he faces Spain’s Feliciano Lopez. He has cruised through the draw this week, with straight-sets victories over Adrian Ungur and Blaz Kavcic. In the first three months of the season, Djokovic claimed the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami titles and is unbeaten since the semi-finals (l. to Federer) of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November. Djokovic takes a 3-0 career lead into the clash with the No. 37-ranked Lopez, although the left-hander did win a set off Djokovic in their most recent meeting at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.

Lopez earned his place in the final with 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over Italian Filippo Volandri, who was contesting his first ATP World Tour semi-final in more than three years. The Madrid native converted all four break point chances he created and saved nine of Volandri’s 11 break point chances to prevail in one hour and 35 minutes. He has not dropped a set on his run through this week, including victories against Fernando Gonzalez and Albert Montanes. The 29-year-old Lopez is through to his sixth ATP World Tour final and his first since clinching his second title in Johannesburg (d. Robert) last year. In his only previous clay-court final, Lopez finished runner-up to Richard Gasquet in Gstaad in 2006.

Bookmark It

Novak Djokovic extended his perfect run this season to 25 matches as he brushed aside Romanian qualifier Adrian Ungur 6-2 6-3 in front of his home fans at the Serbia Open in Belgrade. The top-seeded Djokovic was always likely to prove too strong for the world number 175th and so it proved as he wrapped up victory in one hour and eight minutes to take his place in the quarter-finals. In the last eight Djokovic will come up against Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic, who needed one hour and 54 minutes to dispose of Brazil’s Ricardo Mello 7-5 6-3 and reach his second tour-level quarter-final of the year.

Fernando Gonzalez’s fine comeback in his first tournament after eight months out with a hip injury came to an end as he was dispatched 6-4 7-6 (7/4) by unseeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Lopez set up an all-Spanish quarter-final against fourth seed Albert Montanes after Montanes rallied from losing the first set to defeat Germany’s Michael Berrer 3-6 6-2 6-2.

Bookmark It

Fernando Gonzalez won his first match in 11 months Tuesday evening, defeating Martin Klizan 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the Serbia Open. Gonzalez had been sidelined since last October after having right hip surgery, and last tasted victory in a first round win at the 2010 French Open. “I haven’t played for a long time but my shots are already in my game,” said the former World No. 5 after the match. “I’m moving better every day but I need to play more matches, more points and I need to compete. Maybe the conditions today weren’t really good for a great match but it was good for tough competition.”

Though he was pleased with the win, the outcome was not the Chilean’s primary focus in today’s match. “Obviously I’m really happy for that, but I was scared at what was going to happen, and I felt good [out there]. The conditions were tough and you have to move really quickly and that’s the thing needed most in the past. That’s why I lost a lot of my power, I couldn’t move very well before the surgery.”

Bookmark It

The 2009 champion has been given a BYE in the first round and will start his campaign against either world no.97 Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo or a qualifier. No.5 seed and last year’s finalist, American John Isner, is in Novak’s quarter and the two players could meet in the quarter-finals. Nole’s potential semi-final opponents are Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,3) and Janko Tipsarevic (SRB,7).

Viktor Troicki (SRB,2), Albert Montanes (ESP,4) Ernests Gulbis (LAT,WC,6), Juan Monaco (ARG,8), Feliciano Lopez (ESP), Fernando Gonzalez (CHI,WC) are in the bottom half of the draw and Djokovic can’t meet them before the finals. Serbia Open is an ATP World Tour 250 tournament. The prize fund is € 373,200. The winner will get € 66,500 and 250 ATP points.

MAIN DRAW:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) – BYE

Qualifier vs. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP)

Tobias Kamke (GER) vs. Blaz Kavcic (SLO)

Ricardo Mello (BRA) vs. [5] John Isner (USA)

[3] Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) – BYE

Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs. Somdev Devvarman (IND)

Mischa Zverev (GER) vs. Dudi Sela (ISR)

Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs. [7] Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)

[8] Juan Monaco (ARG) vs. Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

[WC] Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) vs. Qualifier

Qualifier vs. Michael Berrer (GER)

[4] Albert Montanes (ESP) – BYE

[WC, 6] Ernests Gulbis (LAT) vs. Iliya Marchenko (UKR)

Filippo Volandri (ITA) vs. [WC] Dusan Lajovic (SRB)

Marcel Granollers (ESP) vs. Qualifier

[2] Viktor Troicki (SRB) – BYE

Novak has won every tournament he’s entered in 2011: the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami. He is currently on a 24-0 winning streak for the season, and increased his overall winning streak to 26 wins in a row, dating back to last December’s Davis Cup final when Serbia lifted the trophy for the first time in it’s history.

Djokovic is only one match short of equalling Ivan Lendl’s 25-0 start in 1986.

Bookmark It

Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey both took a straight-set victory Saturday to move into the final at the clay-court Serbia Open, a French Open tune-up.

The second-seeded Isner beat fourth-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, 7-5, 7-5, while the third-seeded Querrey needed only 51 minutes to dispatch Serbian Filip Krajinovic, 6-1, 6-2.

Isner, 25, will be going for his second career title in his fourth career final. He won at Auckland in January, beating Arnaud Clement in the title match.

Querrey, meanwhile, will appear in his ninth career final and try for his fourth career title. The 22-year-old won the Memphis title in February, when he topped Isner in the championship match.

Isner and Querrey, who also teamed up to win the doubles title in Memphis and reach the final in Rome, have split the two total career matchups against each other.

Bookmark It