Pliskova lost to the world number one, even Lehecka didn’t make the quarterfinals. The men’s ranking leader suffered another defeat

During Friday’s tennis programme, the quarter-final performances of two Czech representatives were on show. Jiří Lehečka did not make it through to the semi-finals against Miomir Kecmanović and Karolina Pliskova lost to Iza Świąteková after a promising start. Another unsuccessful performance of Novak Djokovic is also worth noting.

The ATP 250 event, hosted by Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, featured a clash between two tennis players close in ranking – 33. Kecmanovic and 36. Lehecka. However, the final result of the match was not very even.

The first set offered a rather wild course. The twenty-three-year-old Serbian failed to hold his serve three times, but the Czech, two years younger than him, lost his serve four times and lost 5:7. The second set lasted less than half an hour and the player from Kněžmost got an unpopular “canary”.

The surprise of the day came earlier in the tournament called the Srpska Open, the Serbian derby. The men’s world number one was not able to beat his compatriot Dusan Lajovic, who is ranked seventieth in the singles rankings, and will not fulfill his role of the biggest favourite after losing 4::6 and 6::7.

This is the second defeat for Novak Djokovic in a short period of time. Last week in Monte Carlo, in his debut on clay this year, he lost only to the 162nd player in the world, Ivan Gakhov. After that, however, he dropped out after a battle with Lorenzo Musetti. The final scores were 6:4, 5:7 and 4:6.

The evening highlight of the quarter-final stage of the WTA 500 level clay tournament in Stuttgart was the clash between Karolina Pliskova and the best tennis player of the moment Iga Świąteková. The world number 17 started well, dominating the opening game 6:4.

However, the young Pole’s early equalisation came afterwards, as she allowed Pliskova to gain just one game in the second set. The deciding set wasn’t much more evenly matched and the thirty-one-year-old Czech said goodbye to the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2023 with a 6::4, 1::6 and 2::6 overall loss.

In Saturday’s semi-finals, Świąteková will face Ons Dzhabur and also Anastasija Potapova will play Aryna Sabalenka. Live coverage will be broadcast by O2 TV Tennis.

On the men’s circuit, three tournaments are taking place simultaneously. In Banja Luka, tennis fans will be treated to another duel between two Serbs, the aforementioned Lajović and Kecmanović, in the semi-finals. The other battle for the final will be the one between Slovak Alex Molcan and the favoured Russian Andrey Rubljov.

The semi-final matches between Holger Rune and Christopher O’Connell and Botice van de Zandschulp and Taylor Fritz will take place at the event of the same category in Munich. At the “Five Hundred” in Barcelona, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniel Edwards and Lorenzo Musetti and Stefanos Tsitsipas will compete for the final spot.

Source: ATP, WTA