Lucija Boskovic came through a long, jagged battle to beat Roberta Serban 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 at the WTA 125k in Ljubljana. The difference was resilience under pressure: Boskovic saved 7 of 11 break points across the match, while Serban saved only 4 of 9.
The opener swung repeatedly, with Boskovic breaking at 1-0 and again at 3-2, but Serban broke back at 1-1 and then at 5-5 to force a tiebreak she took. Boskovic broke early again in the second at 2-0 before Serban levelled at 4-3, and this time the Croatian claimed the tiebreak; in the decider she broke at 1-0 and 3-0, conceded one back at 3-1, then broke again at 5-2 to close it out.
Serban's serve was the story on the debit side: 11 double faults to Boskovic's 5, including five in the second set alone. Boskovic also edged the service points 67-61 and won 5 break points to Serban's 4, though the return numbers were close, with Serban actually winning more receiver points overall (48 to 45).