Russian Aslan Karatsev took on World Number 1 Novak Djokovic and proceeded to pull off a shocking victory at the Serbia Open. The match held on Saturday evening took more than 3 hours for Karatsev to defeat Djokovic. He will then proceed to the final on Sunday.
The Russians victory against Djokovic is his first win against a top-five player, in a match that resulted in 7-5 4-6 6-4 sets.
During the match, both players pushed each other to the maximum, resulting in a lengthy match that spanned three hours and 26 minutes before a winner was declared.
The Serbian Open was organized by Djokovics brother, and after Djokovics defeat, Karatsev will be moving on to the final. Meanwhile, Matteo Berrettini will be facing off against Taro Daniel for the spot opposing the Russian.
Despite his loss, Djokovic was praising Karatsev for the Russians victory.
Djokovic said, Hats off to Karatsev, he was bold and deserved to win I will probably not be able to recollect all the memorable rallies in this match because I lost. I am not happy with my performance, I put up a fight but he delivered great shots every time he needed to.
Djokovic felt that he was unlucky at certain times and that he had several ups and downs throughout the match.
On the other hand, Karatsev feels that this was an important victory in his career. He said, This is definitely the most important victory of my career. At the Australian Open in Melbourne, I felt like I was playing against a wall but this is a different surface and I was focused.