Former Serbian player Nikola Spear died in his native city Subotica at the age of 73. He became the first player from the former Jugoslavia to break into the top 100 and achieved his career-high in 1977 at number 78. He reached three semifinals in Houston in 1970, Madrid in 1975 and Zurich in 1977 and the quarter finals in six more tournaments. He made history as the first player to win a Grand Slam match in the Open Era with a triple bagel, when he beat Daniel Contet 6-0 6-0 6-0 at 1968 Roland Garros.
Just four more players achieved a triple bagel in Majors in the next years: Karel Novacek at Roland Garros against Bengocheca, Stefan Edberg at Wimbledon against Eriksson, Ivan Lendl in New York against Moir and Sergi Bruguera at 1993 Roland Garros against Thierry Champion. Andy Murray was leading 6-0 6-0 5-0 against Alberto Martin at the age of 19 before losing a game at the 2007 Australian Open.
At Davis Cup level Spear and current Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Tournament Director Zeljko Franulovic beat Romanian doubles team formed by Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac on clay in Maribor. Spear beat then World Number 1 Nastase to tie the match at 2-2. Franulovic fought back from two sets down in the decisive match against Tiriac to claim the win for Serbia.
