The young Croatian tennis player Dino Prižmić is the conqueror of the Banjaluka Open challenger.
Source: Mondo/Slaven Petković
After the withdrawal of last year’s winner, Fabijan Marožan, it was clear that we would get a new winner of the Banjaluka Open, and that is exactly the player to whom the Hungarian handed the semi-final match.
Dino Prižmić won the Banjaluka Open after defeating Belgian Kimer Kopejans 6:2, 6:3 in the final.
The Belgian tennis player lost only one set until the final, but on Sunday evening he had to congratulate the eighteen-year-old from Split, who does not hide that his idol is Novak Đoković.
The winner of the junior Roland Garros arrived in Banja Luka practically on his birthday, and then played an excellent tournament in the city on Vrbas during which he first defeated the Argentine Fransisko Komesana, then made a surprise by knocking out Aleks Molčan, and then defeated last year’s finalist, Damir Džumhur.
Prižmić endured the insults of Bosnia and Herzegovina. tennis player during the quarterfinals, then rested after Marožan surrendered, and then in a somewhat unusual final, he won against Kimer Kopejans.
Unusual, because it was the final of the breaks! We saw as many as six in the first set in which Kopejans failed to win a single serve, so Prižmić reached 6:2 after 54 minutes of play.
The second set also started with a break, this time by Kopejans, who immediately confirmed it for a 2:0 lead in the games, however, Prižmić retaliated, and with more than the same measure, and reversed it to 4:2.
With a new break, Kopejans reduced it to 4:3, and then another desperate service game in which he did not win a single point and Prižmić reached 5:3 and the opportunity to end the match on his serve. He did not use the first of the two match points as he made a double service fault, but then he forced Kopejans to make a mistake and reached 6:3, that is, 2:0 in the sets.
A jump of 67 places!
After the triumph in Banja Luka, Dino Prižmić will make great progress on the latest ATP list, which will be published on Monday. With the new 100 points, Prižmić should climb from the 241st place to the 174th position on the ATP list.
After the final, the defeated Kimer Kopejans was quite emotional, and he thanked everyone in Banja Luka and said that he will always remember this final, even though he lost it.
“I want to congratulate Dino and his team who did a great job. He is a talented player. I felt very welcome in Banja Luka, thank you again. I made great friends here. Thank you all, I felt at home here in Banja Luka I’m always happy to come back. Thank you to the audience, I will never forget this match, even though I lost it. Thank you.”Kopejans said.
Dino Prižmić, winner of the Banjaluka Open, was even more impressed. Young Croatian tennis player. it was short and with a big smile he thanked the audience, the organizers and everyone who was involved in this tournament.
“I’m really impressed, I want to thank everyone who came here and supported this event. Your support means a lot to me, thank you very much. Thank you to the physiotherapists who allowed me to continue playing matches, thank you to the organizers, ball collectors, everyone. Kopejans , I want to thank you for this final and I wish you all the best in the future”, said Dino Prižmić.
By winning the final, Prižmić won 100 ATP points and a cash prize of 16,020 euros, while Kopejans got 60 points and 9,415 euros.