Novak Djokovic and Luca van Assche meet in the second round of the 2023 tennis Banja Luka Challenger. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
Novak Djokovic is coming off a quick exit in Monte Carlo to Lorenzo Musetti where he lost as a -600 favorite despite winning the first set. He lost after dropping the first set in a match that went 3 hours. In the losing effort, Djokovic had 6 double faults, 23 unforced errors and was broken 8 times. It will be interesting to see how Djokovic responds and if he can clean things up. Djokovic hasn’t lost his opening match since last year’s Monte Carlo, which is now over a calendar year. Djokovic has won 8 of his last 10 matches on clay court.
Luca van Assche is coming off a 3 sets win over Stan Wawrinka that took 30 games to decide. In the victory, van Assche won 63 percent of his first serve points and 52 percent of his second serve points. van Assche won 60 percent of his total service points and converted on 2 of his 5 break points. van Assche got 73 percent of his first serves in play and saved 8 of his 11 break points. A massive win for the 18-year-old van Assche, as he could have easily folded after dropping the first set in 7 games. Regardless of the result here, the experience is key for van Assche who is still very green when it comes to the main tour. van Assche has won 8 of his last 10 matches on clay court.
There’s no match history between these 2 players.
Djokovic didn’t look good in his last outing, but this should be a layup for him. No matter what you think of van Assche and his ability, he has only a handful of matches on the main tour and is now going up against the top ranked player on the planet. Experience is a factor when trying to slay the dragon.
Give me Djokovic in straight sets to shave down the price.