Luca van Assche successfully bagged his first victory over a player ranked in the top 100 at the Srpska Open, Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 2023 season.
The 18-year-old recovered from losing the first set and trailed to a break in the third before beating 38-year-old Stan Wawrinka 1-6 7-6 6-4 in the first round of the Srpska Open.
This victory led the world number 87 to duel against world number 1 Novak Djokovic.
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“I feel very happy about my victory. It was really fun playing in front of you all,” said Van Assche who won the match after 2 hours 42 minutes.
“It was normal in the beginning the fans were with Stan because he’s an amazing player and I’m really happy to win this match.”
The 18-year-old saved eight of the 11 break point opportunities she faced, including four at 5-5 in the second set before claiming the biggest win of her career to date. In the third set, he snatched four games in a row after trailing 3-1 before finally winning the match.
The Frenchman made his ATP tournament debut last season in Antwerp before claiming his first ATP tournament win earlier this month in Estoril.
After talking about the win over Wawrinka, Luca Van Assche was looking forward to the first meeting against Djokovic and stated, “That would be great for me and I’m only 18 years old. I know the crowd won’t be with me but I will enjoy it and I will try to win.”
In another first round of the Srpska Open, Australian tennis player Alexei Popyrin defeated fifth seed Tallon Griekspoor 7-6, 7-6. He saved all three of the break point opportunities he faced, while the Dutchman missed seven break point opportunities.
Popyrin, who won 89 percent of the points from her first serve, will meet Alex Molcan in the second round after the Slovak national beat Japanese international Taro Daniel 3-6 7-5 6-1.
In other action, Serb Dusan Lajovic was leading 6-2 4-6 2-0 against compatriot Filip Krajinovic before the match had to be postponed due to rain.
