“Upset Alert: Djokovic Falls to Lajovic at Bosnia’s Luka Banja Tournament”

Serbian Novak Djokovic, ranked first in the world, surprisingly lost to his compatriot Dusan Lajovic, 4-6, 6-7 (6-8), in the quarter-finals of the Bosnian tennis tournament Luka Banja.

The loss raised a big question mark about Djokovic’s level a month before the start of the French Roland Garros Championship, especially since he was suffering from an elbow injury.

Djokovic had previously struggled to get rid of the unheralded Frenchman Luca van Asch and needed three sets to beat him at the start of his career in this tournament.

And Djokovic wasted only four games in two previous matches against Lajovic before he suffered his first loss against the world number 70.

And after losing the first set, Dioku wasted three opportunities to settle the second set in his favor in the deciding round, opening the way for his opponent to return to winning.

Djokovic had said before his participation in the Bosnian tournament: “My elbow is not in perfect condition, but let’s say it is good enough. I hope to be ready for the first match.”

The Serbian player won the Australian Open earlier this year to equal the record for the number of Grand Slam tournaments with Spain’s Rafael Nadal (22 titles each), while he will be among the favorites to win the French Open title next month.

Russia’s Andrei Rublev, the second seed, reached the semi-finals by defeating Bosnian Damir Djumhur, a wildcard participant, 7-5, 6-3 on Friday.

Rublev, who won his first Masters tournament by winning the Monte Carlo tournament last week, trailed 5-2 in the first set but fought back by winning the next five games to win it.

In the second set, after saving four points for his opponent on his serve, he was able to break the Bosnian’s serve in the fifth game and maintained his lead to settle the match.

“We always had tough fights and it was the same today,” Rublev said. “I was lucky to be back in the game.”

Rublev raised his tally of consecutive victories to 7, and he will face Slovakian Alex Mulkan, the winner over Serbian Laszlo Diri.