Fans recently witnessed a really exhilarating semi-final at the Serbian Open 2021. In an epic encounter, the man in-form Aslan Karatsev battled past World No.1 Novak Djokovic to reach the finals of the tournament. The final scoreline of the match was 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

The match was the repeat of the Australian Open 2021 semi-final. However, this time it was Aslan Karatsev who got his revenge and emerged as the winner of the match.

Set-1: Aslan Karatsev stuns Novak Djokovic

Serving first, Novak Djokovic began the set on a high note by winning three consecutive games. Interestingly, he broke in the second game and then won the third to take a healthy lead.

However, Karatsev didn’t give up and fought back. He too won three back-to-back games after breaking in the fifth game. As a result, the scoreline reached 3-3. The one who served won the next two games and the scoreline was 4-4 at the end of the 8th game.

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It was the Karatsev who broke yet again, took the scoreline to 5-4 in his favor. Serving for the set, he tried hard, but the World No.1 player broke and equalized the scoreline again at 5-5.

Although Djoker managed to save the set to some extent, Karatsev was playing beautifully. He broke for the third time in the subsequent game and then, with the help of an amazing forehand winner, sealed the next game as well. Thus, he won the set 7-5.

Set-2: Novak Djokovic bounces back

Djokovic yet again had a good start as he took a 2-0 lead over Karatsev by breaking in the second set. However, the Russian again managed to bounce back by exhibiting some great skills on the court. Surprisingly, he even delivered two single-handed backhands and stole the hearts of the fans.

Karatsev broke in the fifth game yet again and was now leading for the first time in the second set. Things were getting out of the hands of the Serbian legend, and he needed to do something in order to fight back. However, Karatsev was not in a mood to take the match too long. He won his fourth back-to-back game and made the scoreline 4-2.

Djokovic reassembled his strokes and re-worked his strategy. As a result, he finally won a game after losing four of them and narrowed down the margin to 4-3. He broke in the next game won the next-to-next too to take the lead once again. The scoreline at this time was 5-4.

Serving to save the set, Karatsev took an early lead in the game. However, Djokovic was just brilliant with his defense and broke yet again to take the set 6-4.

Set-3: The decider

Even though Karatsev gained two break points in the first game of the third set, he couldn’t capitalize on them. As a result, Djokovic yet again managed to win the first game. The one who served continued to win, and the scoreline soon reached 3-3.

Interestingly, Djokovic saved three break-points in the fifth game. In response, Karatsev saved a total of five break-points in the six games and managed to level the scoreline. The Russian finally broke in the seventh game and was now leading 4-3.

The Russian gained some momentum after his win in the previous game and took it forward to extend his lead to 5-3. He was now just one game away from entering the finals. However, Djokovic fought back, saved a match-point, and then made the scoreline 4-5.

Serving for the match, Karatsev didn’t take long and won the game quite easily. With this, he also conquered the set 6-4, and thus won the match.