Novak Djokovic misses out on Adria Tour final despite Zverev win, Dominic Thiem progresses

World No.1 Novak Djokovic overcame a Alexander Zverev scare by narrowly edging the young German 4-0 1-4 4-2 in their Adria Tour clash on Sunday. The win, however, was bittersweet for the Serbian as he failed to make the final of the exhibition event.

Novak Djokovic lost out on a spot in the final to fellow Serbian Filip Krajinovic, who on Saturday handed the Australian Open champion his first defeat (albeit unofficial) of the year 2020.

The 17-time Grand slam champion came out all guns blazing against Zverev on Sunday, taking the first set 4-0. But the 23-year-old German responded in style, to come back and win the second set 4-1.

The World No. 1 had the crowd fully behind him at Belgrade's "Tennis center Novak" and he did not disappoint them as he won the deciding set 4-2 to clinch the match. Novak Djokovic had a little trouble at 30-30 in the 6th game while serving for the match, but the Serbian legend kept his calm and got over the line.

World No. 32 Filip Krajinovic, who had earlier grabbed his second victory of the weekend with a 4-0 4-3 (7-5) win over fellow Serbian Viktor Troicki, progressed to the final on the basis of best percentage of games won.

With Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Filip Krajinovic all tied at 2 wins and 1 loss each, and with 5 wins and 3 losses each in sets, the equation came down to the narrowest of margins viz. the percentage of games won. That was where Krajinovic triumphed over his considerably higher ranked counterparts.

Krajinovic won 61% (28 out of 46) of his games as compared to Djokovic's tally of 57% (24 out of 42), while Zverev managed to win only 51% (22 out of 43) of his games played.

Djokovic's compatriot Filip Krajinovic progressed to the final

Krajinovic had a tough outing against fellow Serbian Viktor Troicki, who saved two match points in the second set to push it to a tiebreak - where he rushed to a 4-1 lead. The World No. 32, however, came back and won the tiebreak with a brilliant return of serve to take the match.

It is worthy to note that had Krajinovic lost that set, Novak Djokovic would have progressed to the final.

It is still early days in Novak Djokovic's return to competitive tennis, but two back to back rusty performances on consecutive days does raise a few questions on his preparation ahead of the return of tennis.

Dominic Thiem overcomes Grigor Dimitrov to progress to the final

Dominic Thiem qualifies for the final unbeaten to face Krajinovic

Krajinovic will have his work cut out in the final as he will face World No. 3 Dominic Thiem, who progressed to the final with a perfect record of 3-0 in the tournament.

The Austrian sensation, who has probably been the busiest tennis player in the last three months, overcame Bulgarian World No. 19 Grigor Dimitrov in two tiebreaks on Sunday in what was a mini spectacle of a match.

While the Belgrade crowd would have been hoping for a repeat of the Australian Open final in Novak Djokovic vs Dominic Thiem tomorrow, the in-form Krajinovic would surely be buzzing to give his home crowd their money's worth.