The semifinals at the Croatia Open will feature two Serbian seeds, one of whom is still seeking his first title. The other two, Attila Balazs and Salvatore Caruso are playing their second and first ATP semifinal, respectively. Who will get a shot at clinching the title in Sunday’s Croatia Open Final?
ATP Croatia Open Semifinal Predictions
Attila Balazs vs Laslo Djere
Head-to-head: Balazs 1-0
Attila Balazs’s run to the semifinals is truly miraculous, especially if you factor in how his matches went. The Hungarian advanced through qualifying with wins over Admir Kalender and Rudolf Molleker and run into Viktor Galovic in the first round. After winning the first set 6-0, the match got tighter and Balazs was forced to save seven match points, including two on his opponents’ serve. Then, Filip Krajinovic had to win his own service game to throw Balazs out of the tournament but he failed to do so and lost that second-round match in a third set tie-breaker. On Friday, the Hungarian was down a set to Stefano Travaglia but managed to come back to win 3-6, 7-6, 6-3. This is the 30-year-old’s second tour-level semifinal, seven years after his run at Bucharest where he reached the final four despite being ranked no. 450 in the world.
On the other side of the net will be Lasjo Djere, a 24-year-old Serbian who’s currently sitting at no. 32 in the ATP Rankings, mostly due to his great run at the Rio Open in February, where he won his first career title. As the fourth seed in this tournament, Djere advanced to the final four by taking down Paolo Lorenzi and Leonardo Mayer in tough three-setters.
The Hungarian has a very good serve out wide and can hit well with his loopy forehand but he hasn’t faced such a fast opponent yet and will surely struggle to match the consistency of Djere’s fantastic backhand. Balazs won their only encounter two years ago but it’s unarguably the Serbian who’s made much bigger progress since then. It’s difficult to expect the Hungarian to pull off another upset and every great run has to end somewhere.
Prediction: Djere in 3
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Dusan Lajovic vs Salvatore Caruso
Head-to-head: First meeting
Another player who had his best career result this season, Dusan Lajovic is currently the 36th player in the ATP Rankings. The Serbian had a brilliant run at the Monte Carlo Masters where he managed to defeat Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev en route to the final (lost to Fabio Fognini). Lajovic has been pretty quiet since then but he is back in full flight in Umag, having defeated Andrey Rublev and Aljaz Bedene.
Salvatore Caruso is in his first ATP Tour semifinal with wins over Corentin Moutet, Borna Coric and Facundo Bagnis. The Italian came through qualifying, just as he did at the French Open where he lost to Novak Djokovic in the third round. He has been very impressive so far in Umag, dropping just two sets in five matches (to Coric and to Tommy Robredo in the final round of qualifying).
Caruso most certainly has the game to trouble Lajovic and stay on the aggressive side of baseline rallies. However, it is at least doubtful whether he can produce it consistently enough. The Serbian will make a lot of balls and with Caruso lacking ways to finish points efficiently, the Italian shouldn’t be able to come on top in a baseline slugfest. Struggling to finish the first set against Bagnis and almost throwing it from 5-1 up also doesn’t bode well for Caruso’s chances here.
Prediction: Lajovic in 3
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