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Deft Play at the Dema Cup
Just two weeks away from officially
starting training with the MCTA
Ilija has been proving his worth.
After reaching the Final in the
doubles of the 11th
Slovenian Junior Open, the talented
Serbian went on to reach the Final
of the singles of the Dema Cup in
Bulgaria. Pushing aside four
opponents with relative ease he
squared up with Markov Aleksandar
from Bulgaria in the Final.
Unfortunately for Ilija the start of
the match was not quite up to the
standard he had been setting in the
rest of the tournament, purely due
to a loss of concentration. Going
3-0 down he managed to refocus and
with smart play pulled himself back
to 3-3.
Both players held their serve up
until Alexsandar led at 6-5. It was
then that nerves began to get the
better of fifteen year old Ilija.
The first point on his service game
unsettled him as he missed an easy
volley and with his confidence low
he lost the set 7-5.
A few easy mistakes allowed the
Bulgarian to break Ilija causing him
to go 2-0 down in the second.
Despite holding his serve until the
end of the end of the set Ilija was
unable to break back at any stage.
As a result he lost the set 6-3.
However, despite the mistakes that
cropped up in the Final Ilija was
pleased with his overall progress:
“In the rest of the games I played
well and in this case I am happy to
have reached the Final.”
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