Novak Djokovic and Alex Molcan set to meet in Belgrade final

Novak Djokovic and Alex Molcan will meet in the final of the Belgrade Open on Saturday, as both won their semi-final matches Friday. Djokovic defeated qualifier Andrej Martin 6-1, 4-6, 6-0, while Molcan defeated the eight seed Federico Delbonis 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

For Djokovic, he will be trying to win his 83rd career ATP title on Saturday, and give himself a final boost of confidence heading into next week’s French Open.

In his match against Martin on Friday, it was Djokovic who was again much better on the return of serve. On the first serve return, Djokovic won 51% of the points, while Martin won 40% of the points on Novak’s first serve, which is particularly good against the number one player in the world.

BELGRADE, SERBIA – MAY 28: Novak Djokovic (L) of Serbia shake hands with Andrej Martin (R) of Slovakia after his men’s singles Semi Final match on Day 6 of the ATP 250 Belgrade Open at Novak Tennis Centre on May 28, 2021 in Belgrade, Serbia. (Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images) /

Where Martin struggled was on his second serve, as Djokovic won 63% of the points on Martin’s second serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Djokovic was much better on his own second serve, only letting Martin win 31% of the points. This is now back-to-back matches where Djokovic has had a better winning percentage on his second serve than his first.

For Alex Molcan, he rallied back against Delbonis after losing the first set 6-4, and ended up taking the match in just over two hours and 40 minutes.

In the match, Molcan and Delbonis were trading back breaks of serve often. Molcan ended up getting the best of Delbonis in that category, breaking seven times on 15 chances, while Delbonis broke Molcan’s serve six times on 19 chances. It was Molcan who was the better player in these key moments, which led to him eventually winning the match.

BELGRADE, SERBIA – MAY 28: Alex Molcan of Slovakia returns a ball during his men’s singles Semi Final match against Federico Delbonis of Argentina on Day 6 of the ATP 250 Belgrade Open at Novak Tennis Centre on May 28, 2021 in Belgrade, Serbia. (Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images) /

Molcan also the led the match in first and second serve points won to go along with one more ace and one less double fault than Delbonis, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

This will be the highlight of Molcan’s career so far, as he will be playing in his first ATP final and will be competing against the number one player in the world. Molcan has only played two ATP events in 2021 before the tournament in Belgrade, as he has spent most of the year competing on the Challenger tour.

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Molcan is currently at a career high ranking of 255 in the world, a number that will certainly rise whether he wins or loses on Saturday. As good as he has played in Belgrade this week, I do not think it will be enough to take down Djokovic, as I see Novak taking the match in straight sets to win his 83rd career title.

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