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Serbia edged past the Czech Republic into the United Cup quarter-finals in Perth on Tuesday after winning the decisive mixed doubles rubber in the match tiebreak.
I mean, it’s not the first time that I have faced these kind of circumstances at such a high level of professional tennis. I know professional sport in general, these things happen. I think it’s not a major concern, because I still managed to finish the match and managed to play well, even though I maybe wasn’t feeling 100%, but still, you know, it allowed me to finish the match. Novak Djokovic
Olga Danilovic & Hamad Medjedovic walked onto court against Czechs Miriam Kolodziejova & Petr Nouza needing to win one set to advance to the Last eight, and after losing the opener, the Serb pair rallied to earn a dramatic 4-6 7-5 [10-8] win.
Roared on by Novak Djokovic and the rest of the team, Danilovic & Medjedovic produced big-time tennis to win Group E and set a quarter-final clash against Group C winners Australia on Wednesday night.
Group A winners Poland will play China in the other Perth quarter-final.
Markéta Vondrousova defeated Olga Danilović of Team Serbia to put the Czech Republic 1-0 up in the tie
© Will Russell/Getty Images
Earlier in the tie, Marketa Vondrousova earned her first win of the season, downing Danilovic, 6-1 3-6 6-3.
22-year old Danilovic was facing a Top 10 player for the 3rd time in her career, and fell just short of her 2nd win after a little over 2 hours on the court.
Her best victory by ranking came against then-No 10 Julia Goerges at the 2018 Moscow River Cup, a tournament she famously won as a 17-year-old lucky loser.
Vondrousova, meanwhile, bounced back after losing to Zheng Qinwen in 3 sets in the Czechs’ 3-0 loss to China on Saturday, but it did not come easily for the reigning Wimbledon champion and World No 7 against an opponent ranked more than 110 places below her.
“She was playing a good match and I’m happy I won in a third set,” Vondrousova said later. “I just kept fighting, and it was a very tough match.”
The first set was closer than the scoreboard suggests, with Danilovic garnering a break point in the first game, 3 more in the 3rd, and 2 game points in the 6th, while the Serb won 12 of the first 14 points of the second set to stake her claim to a 3-0 lead.
Although Vondrousova struck back to win 3 straight games of her own, Danilovic won the next 4 to not only pocket the middle set, but go up a break to start the decider.
The Czech won 5 straight games from there, but she failed to serve out the match at her first attempt at 5-1, and made no mistake on her second chance.
Novak Djokovic needed 3 sets to see off Jiří Lehečka of the Czech Republic to level the tie for Serbia
© Will Russell/Getty Images
Serbia rebounded to send the tie into the deciding mixed doubles after Novak Djokovic overcame a tricky test from Jiri Lehecka to level the tie at 1-1.
The ATP World No 1 struggled with a wrist problem throughout the match, and recovered from a second-set dip, where he squandered a 3-1 lead, to eventually defeat the 22-year-old, 6-1 6-7(3) 6-1, after 2 hours and 18 minutes.
Competing in his second match of the new season, Djokovic struggled to find his best level at times inside the RAC Arena.
After an inconsistent second set, he received a medical timeout on his wrist, and looked to hit with more comfort on his forehand in the decider.
Lehecka is capable of causing an upset, but going into this match, the Czech was on a 4-match losing streak, and it didn’t seem that the 24-time Grand Slam champion would be the man against whom he would end it.
Yet, the Czech managed to pull off some heroics, but that was not enough to overcome such an experienced player as Djokovic, who won 3 out of the 4 Grand Slams in 2023.
In the first set, Djokovic broke his opponent’s serve twice, and since he held his own comfortably, without facing a single break point, there was no discussion about who would win it and the Serb took it with the loss of just the one game.
It seemed that the 36-year-old would cruise towards the finish when he established a 3-1 lead in the second, but his opponent won the next 4 games to turn the set around.
Serving at 5-3, though, Lehecka failed to make his mark, and lost the game, and the second set had to be decided by a breaker.
Again, Djokovic was the first one to gain the advantage, but he lost his mini-break, and Lehecka forced more errors to take the set, 7-3, in the tiebreak and level the match.
In the third set, Djokovic broke his opponent’s serve twice and did not facing any break points, cruising to the win and levelling the tie, 1-1.
He simply overpowered Lehecka in the decider, reducing his errors to win 6 of the final 7 games to earn his first win over the World No 31.
Olga Danilovic and Hamad Medjedovic of Team Serbia celebrated edging past Miriam Kolodziejova & Petr Nouza of Team Czech Republic in the match tiebreak to reach the quarter-finals of the United Cup in Perth
© Paul Kane/Getty Images
Djokovic didn’t play the mixed doubles, leaving his protege Hamad Medjedovic to step up with Danilovic due to the issue with his wrist that has been ongoing for a while.
“It happened in the warmup today before the match,” he said later. “I basically got constant treatment before the match, during the match, after the match, you know, trying to address the issue that I’m facing today in the best possible way.
“I mean, it’s not the first time that I have faced these kind of circumstances at such a high level of professional tennis. I know professional sport in general, these things happen.
“I think it’s not a major concern, because I still managed to finish the match and managed to play well, even though I maybe wasn’t feeling 100%, but still, you know, it allowed me to finish the match.”
Djokovic hopes to be back in time to face Australia tomorrow in a crunch quarter-final for Serbia.
“Hopefully I’ll have enough time to recover for tomorrow’s tie against Australia that is in the afternoon hours, so, you know, more time for us.”
Team Serbia huddle following the mixed doubles win by Olga Danilovic & Hamad Medjedovic over Miriam Kolodziejova & Petr Nouza of Team Czech Republic during Day 5 of the 2024 United Cup at RAC Arena in Perth
© Paul Kane/Getty Images
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