ANTALYA, June 28, 2019
Miomir Kecmanovic advanced to his first final on the ATP Tour. The 19-year-old from Serbia fought past No. 3 seeded Australian Jordan Thompson 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-6(1) on Friday afternoon in Belek.
In a match featuring no breaks of serve, Kecmanovic won 14 points more than his opponent to secure victory in two hours and 51 minutes.
“It’s awesome to play here. Me and my family always came here on vacation. It’s definitely a nice place. The courts are okay. It’s grass, so it’s difficult to maintain them but I think they’re playable,” the teenager said about his experiences at the Kaya Palazzo Ressort.
“I thought I had a couple of good matches in Stuttgart and Halle and I thought I could maybe go a few rounds, but I’m very happy to make it all the way to the final,” Kecmanovic said during his post-match press conference.
Kecmanovic, who posted his first Grand Slam win of his career at Roland Garros and is currently ranked on career high World No. 82, enjoys his breakthrough season.
“I had a good off-season in Tenerife with a bunch of good players. That helped me to get used to the level. I had a good start into the year, qualifying and winning my first ATP match. Then I qualified for the Australian Open. That all helped me to believe in myself more and I started to play better. I got a bit lucky at Indian Wells to get in, but I used it and went to the quarterfinals. I got more experience and helped me a lot to improve,” Kecmanovic commented on his good run this year.
Lorenzo Sonego couldn’t serve the match out against Pablo Carreno. Now it’s raining in Belek. Play suspended. @antalyaopen pic.twitter.com/Fm0nXhUUuF
— Florian Heer (@Florian_Heer) 28. Juni 2019
The Belgrade native will either take on No. 4 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain or Lorenzo Sonego. Their match was suspended with the 24-year-old Italian leading 6-3, 5-5 due to rain and will resume on Saturday morning at 11 am local time followed by the doubles final with Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Artem Sitak from New Zealand against on Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia. The singles title match will be played not before 3 pm.
