05/09/2009 - The winner of the Serbia Open is home crowd favorite Marko JEVTOVIC. In the final of the Men's Singles Event JEVTOVIC beat Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia in straight games (12:10, 11:2, 11:8, 11:8). "I struggled in the first game, because I never played against PISTEJ before. He had very unusual strokes and I needed time to adjust," explained JEVTOVIC.

After causing the major upset at the Round of 16 by beating top seed Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC Marko JEVTOVIC continued good run by beating another Serbian representative Zolt PETE in grueling seven games encounter, and then in semi final he beat Andrei FILIMON of Romania. "To be honest, I am sorry that I had to play against KARAKASEVIC in such early stage of the tournament. I was relaxed, knowing that I had nothing to lose. On the other side pressure was on Aleksandar - explained JEVTOVIC - With Zolt I play from the cadets' category, and I am always looking forward our duels. It is always good and interesting game."

FILIMON is number 94 at the World rankings, whilst JEVTOVIC occupied spot number 162. "The win came as a surprise for me. FILIMON beat a lot of good players in his career and I did not expect such outcome."

Lubomir PISTEJ recovered from the opening game reverse to win the semi final match against Filip SZYMANSKI of Poland 4:1. "I did some mistakes so my adversary won the first game very close 13:11. Nevertheless, after that game I had fewer problems. I started to receive better, whilst SZYMANSKI struggled with my service - said PISTEJ . We never played before though we are same age." PISTEJ plays for French Cestas, the member of 16 top clubs in ETTU Cup this year.

In the quarterfinal of the Men's Singles Event Filip SZYMANSKI beat Vitali NEKHVIADOVICH of Belarus in five games. Lubomir PISTEJ, against seed number three Evgueni CHTHETININE of Belarus, needed one game more to win. Andrei FILIMON of Romania overcame Michail BARDON of Slovakia 4:1.

(by Milica NIKOLIC, EWT)