Krajinovic Reaches Third ATP Tour Final In Stockholm
19 October 2019 04:04
Serbian Filip Krajinovic arrived in Stockholm on a three-match losing streak. But the World No. 60 has reversed his fortunes in a major way, and now he is just one victory from claiming his first ATP Tour title.
Krajinovic rallied past fifth seed Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the championship match of the Intrum Stockholm Open. He will face #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov or lucky loser Yuichi Sugita in his third ATP Tour final.
“Thanks guys for coming to watch this match, it means a lot to me,” Krajinovic told the crowd. “Playing in the Stockholm final, it’s a dream come true.”
Krajinovic has a career-high 27 tour-level wins this year, including a trip to his second ATP Tour final in Budapest, where he was a qualifier. Almost two years ago, he enjoyed a stunning run to the championship match of the Rolex Paris Masters, an ATP Masters 1000 event, where he fell to Jack Sock with the trophy on the line.
It looked in the early going like he would not get a chance to lift his maiden trophy, with Carreno Busta going up an immediate break. Even after Krajinovic recouped that break, Carreno Busta got it back at the end of the set when the Serbian hit an ill-advised drop shot to allow the Spaniard to rush the net.
But from the second set on, Krajinovic began to increasingly get the first strike in rallies and run Carreno Busta around the court. He won 47 per cent of his return points and broke serve five times in the match to triumph after two hours and nine minutes, earning himself a chance to battle for all the Stockholm glory.
“For sure I will give my best. It’s my third ATP final,” Krajinovic said. “I hope tomorrow it’s going to be my first [trophy], but I know it’s going to be very difficult.”.readfullarticle
