Novak Djokovic battled back from a set down against a promising French youngster to seal his place in the quarter-finals of the Banja Luka Open on Wednesday.
The world No.1 was sternly tested by 18-year-old Luca Van Assche before prevailing 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2, after more than two hours of play. It was far from a straightforward encounter for Djokovic who also had to recover from a break down at the start of the decider. Overall, he won 72% of his first service points compared to 67% of his second and broke Assche six times.
“It wasn’t easy,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “This would probably rank as the slowest court, slowest conditions I’ve ever played in, to be honest.
“I couldn’t penetrate through the court. I couldn’t put any ball past him.”
Djokovic is looking to get some momentum on the Tour following his shock loss to Lorenzo Musetti at the Monte Carlo Masters last week. That was the first tournament he had played in over a month after missing the two events in America due to his vaccination status. Furthermore, the 22-time Grand Slam champion is coping with an elbow problem which he admitted earlier this week is ‘not ideal.’
Despite those concerns, Djokovic still had his eyes set on winning his third title of the year after Adelaide and the Australian Open. Even though he wasn’t entirely pleased with his latest performance.
“He was on every single ball for a set and a half until I started to get some rhythm going,” he said. “I’m happy with the way I finished the match.
“Of course, I can always play better, but a win is a win.”
Assche is the youngest player in the ATP top 100 and won two titles on the lower-level Challenger Tour earlier this year. In 2021 he won the French Open boys’ title.
Awaiting the top seed in the quarter-finals will be either eighth seed Gregoire Barrere or compatriot Dusan Lajovic. He has never played Barrere on the Tour but leads Lajovic 2-0 in their head-to-head.
Dokovic’s win-loss for the season now stands at 17-2 and he improves his tournament record to 13-3.
