ZADAR, June 20, 2020
The Adria Tour has arrived in Croatia’s coastal city of Zadar for the second weekend of the tennis exhibition tournament. Like last weekend in Belgrade, the eight-man draw has been broken into two groups of four players each.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic headlined Saturday’s action in Dalmatia with two wins in Group A. After a slow start, the 33-year-old Serbian outplayed compatriot Pedja Krstin in his first match. Djokovic was 1-3 down in the opening set and also faced three set balls, but didn’t allow his opponent to grab the lead. The set was decided in a tie-break in which Djokovic triumphed 7-3. It was a one-way traffic in the second set. After Krstin took the first game, Djokovic won four in a row to close out the match 4-3(3), 4-1.
Later in the evening and under the lights at the Visnjik Sports Center, Djokovic defeated Borna Coric 4-1, 4-3(1). Djokovic, organizer of the Adria Tour, won 85 per cent of his first-service points and capitalized on two of his six break point chances to qualify for the final.
It ends with a tiebreak.@DjokerNole pushes through to defeat @borna_coric 4-1, 4-3(1).#AdriaTour pic.twitter.com/yx3L8Coz8y
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 20, 2020
Earlier in the day, Coric and Grigor Dimitrov opened the round robin stage. The Croatian No.1 player recorded a convincing 4-1, 4-1 victory against the Bulgarian in 36 minutes.
Rublev leads Group B
In Group B, Andrey Rublev remained undefeated after the first day. The World No. 14 from Russia edged local favourite Marin Cilic in the last match of the day session, 4-3(5), 2-4, 4-1 followed by a 4-2, 4-1 win over Serbia’s Danilo Petrovic.
“I am happy to be here, it’s a great opportunity to compete against the top players. I won two matches but tomorrow is a new day let’s see what’s going to happen. I will give my best again,” Rublev said during his post match on-court interview after his second victory.
In the final encounter of the day, Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who struggled with his serve and lost his opening match to Petrovic, outlasted Cilic 4-3, 0-4, 4-3. The match ended about half past midnight local time.
