Stat of the Day: Banja Luka champion Dusan Lajovic records 100th clay-court win of career

After a 2022 season that saw him dip out of the Top 100, Dusan Lajovic has bounced back in 2023, reaching three straight quarterfinals earlier in the year—in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago—and then, last week, capturing his first ATP title since 2019 in Banja Luka.

And what a run it was in Banja Luka, as he not only got his first career win over a No. 1 in the quarterfinals—against his good friend, Novak Djokovic—but then went on to beat No. 6-ranked Andrey Rublev in the final, the first time he’s beaten two Top 10 players at the same event.

That victory was just four days ago—and tennis never stops, so Lajovic knew it would be a tough turnaround with Madrid starting this week.

“I’m tired but in a good rhythm,” he said on Sunday. “I hope I can continue, physically, I mean. I really enjoyed my time here this week, my tennis was good and I fought really well—I expect the same from every match but I’m aware that’s not always possible. I hope, at least, to recover before Madrid, although there isn’t much time.”

Recover he did, though, and on Thursday he kept the streak going and the milestones coming, defeating Australia’s Jason Kubler in his first match, 6-3, 6-3, for the 100th clay-court win of his career.

Lajovic is just the second Serbian man in the Open Era to record 100 tour-level wins on clay, after—obviously—Djokovic, who’s had 259.

Awaiting Lajovic in the second round will be No. 9-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime, who received a first-round bye. Lajovic has won both of their previous meetings in straight sets, both on hard courts, at the ATP Cup in 2020 (6-4, 6-2) and at the Masters 1000 in Canada in 2021 (7-5, 6-4).

After his victory in Banja Luka, Lajovic expressed how much a return to the winner’s circle meant to him: “The last time I was in a final was four years ago and I have been through a lot since then, lots of ups and downs,” he told ATPTour.com. “This was probably the most unexpected thing for me for this week. But on the other side I still believed in myself, even though I did not have the best year last year.

“This victory means a lot.”

Lajovic’s triumph last week propelled him from No. 70 to No. 40 on the ATP rankings this week. He has third-round points to defend in Madrid, but after this tournament last year he didn’t win another tour-level match until Wimbledon, so there’s lots of opportunity to climb now.

The Serb reached a career-high of No. 23 in 2019.