Djokovic To Face Lopez In Belgrade Final

© Stevanovic/MilosavljevicFeliciano Lopez will hope to hand Novak Djokovic his first defeat of the season with victory in the Belgrade final.

ATP World Tour No. 2 Novak Djokovic will have the chance to triumph at his hometown tournament for the second time after receiving a walkover into Sunday’s Serbia Open 2011 final. He won the title in the tournament’s inaugural 2009 edition with victory over Lukasz Kubot.

The Belgrade native had been due to face fellow Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament, but Tipsarevic was forced to withdraw with a right leg injury before the match.

Writing on his Facebook page, Djokovic said, "Bad news. Janko had to pull out from tonight's semi final match,because of muscle injury. I sincerely hope he will manage to recover for the rest of the clay court season. Final is tomorrow at 16h. I will try to get the tittle back where it belongs,and that is SERBIA ! :-)"

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The 23-year-old Djokovic goes into the final with a perfect 26-0 match record on the season and will look to capture his fifth title when he faces Spain’s Feliciano Lopez. He has cruised through the draw this week, with straight-sets victories over Adrian Ungur and Blaz Kavcic

In the first three months of the season, Djokovic claimed the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami titles and is unbeaten since the semi-finals (l. to Federer) of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November.

Djokovic takes a 3-0 career lead into the clash with the No. 37-ranked Lopez, although the left-hander did win a set off Djokovic in their most recent meeting at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.

Looking ahead to the final, Lopez said, "I think it’s a great match for me to play. I’ve already won four matches this week. My confidence is really high at the moment and I feel great to play against Novak tomorrow. I know it’s going to be tough; he’s been the best player this year. It will be a great experience."

Lopez earned his place in the final with 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over Italian Filippo Volandri, who was contesting his first ATP World Tour semi-final in more than three years. The Madrid native converted all four break point chances he created and saved nine of Volandri’s 11 break point chances to prevail in one hour and 35 minutes. He has not dropped a set on his run through this week, including victories against Fernando Gonzalez and Albert Montanes.

The 29-year-old Lopez is through to his sixth ATP World Tour final and his first since clinching his second title in Johannesburg (d. Robert) last year. In his only previous clay-court final, Lopez finished runner-up to Richard Gasquet in Gstaad in 2006.