Lola Radivojevic vs Raluca Serban: Kursumlijska Banja Final Analysis (ITF W75)
Radivojevic's string of down-the-line backhands carried her to a third straight title at the Serbian venue
Lola Radivojevic (WTA #230) is heralded as one the heirs of Serbian women’s tennis. For now, the teenager can claim the title of 'Kursumlijska Banja Queen'.
After a 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) win over Raluca Georgiana Serban (WTA #247), Radivojevic guaranteed she will finish the year with a perfect 14-0 record and 3 ITF Tour titles at Kursumlijska Banja’s T-Line Tennis Club.
Radivojevic’s impressive run began in May when she didn’t drop a set en route to a W35 title, her second at the level and fifth overall pro title.
Seven weeks ago, Radivojevic used the familiar surroundings to level up and finally win a W75 final at the third attempt, following losses in Amstelveen (2023) and Zagreb (2024). Once again, the 19-year-old sailed to victory without losing a set.
Last week however, Radivojevic’s path was a lot tougher. In fact, she was 1 game away and twice 2 points away from losing her first match against Mia Ristic, another promising Serbian teenager. Ristic led 6-2, 5-2 but Radivojevic managed to reel off 7 straight games that kickstarted a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 comeback.
With 2 more wins and a walkover in-between, 12-seed Radivojevic reached the championship match and a meeting with 16-seed Serban.
The final began with 4 consecutive breaks. After that, Radivojevic settled and took advantage of Serban’s struggles on serve to make it 5 straight games and clinch the opener by 6-2.
The second set brought a different story. Serban grabbed 2 comfortable serve holds to begin, behind improved serving. But the Cypriot was unable to create separation despite reaching break points in each of Radivojevic’s first 2 serve games of the set.
At 2-2, Radivojevic fired 3 aces to finally enjoy an easy hold. Then she moved ahead 4-2 after coming out on top of a 22-point, 8-Deuce battle. If victory seemed very close for the teenager, Serban responded with 3 straight games and even held 2 non-consecutive set points while serving at 5-4. Both times she served a double fault, then got broken when Radivojevic manufactured a drop shot winner. From 5-5, players traded breaks once more so a tie-break was reached.
With Serban 6:4 up in the breaker, backhands came to the fore with opposite efficiencies. Radivojevic struck a down-the-line winner to save set point #3 while Serban missed set point #4 with a crosscourt error. Radivojevic fired another line backhand winner at 6:6 to set up championship point #1, immediately squandered with a netted 2nd serve return. But she got another crack after Serban hit a double fault, her 12th of the match, at 7:7. This time, Radivojevic converted championship point #2 by drilling her third backhand down-the-line winner of the tie-break.
Finalists tried to dictate rallies with their forehands. In the end, differences were created elsewhere, metrics-wise.
First, double faults.
Serban finished with 10 more unforced errors (37 to 27). Almost all of that gap came from double faults: Serban served 12 and Radivojevic hit 3.
On top of that, some of Serban’s double faults were hit at crucial moments. There was the pair served set point up and the one at 7:7 in the tie-break, in what turned out to be Serban’s last serve point of the match.
Next up, backhand groundstrokes.
Radivojevic’s 3 backhand groundstroke winners during the tie-break were enough to match Serban’s total for the whole match!
From that wing, Radivojevic accumulated 11 winners and 8 backhands that forced errors with 26 total errors. Serban missed 22 backhand groundstrokes and generated just 3 winners and 3 forcing backhands.
The table below reveals the difference in backhand performances was solely created by distinct abilities to hit point-ending down-the-line groundstrokes.
Both players finished with 3 unforced errors in intended line backhands but there was a massive 12-point gap in offensive prodution: Radivojevic fired 13 winning line backhands while Serban hit just 1 (marked by blue and green boxes, below).
Finally, court position.
Radivojevic was happy to rally from the back of the court while Serban was more eager to move to the net.
The home favourite won 53% (60/113) of baseline points and held Serban to 45% (44/98). Also worth mentioning that Radivojevic was a perfect 5-for-5 when attempting a drop shot.
By contrast, Serban was more successful at the net. She won 11 of 19 forward moves (58%).
Lola Radivojevic (WTA #230, seed 12) vs Raluca Georgiana Serban (WTA #247, seed 16)
2024 Kursumlijska Banja Final - Match Data
*** You may notice some stats are missing 4 points, due to streaming problems. We apologize for that!
Set by Set Stats
Points Won by Rally Length
Rally Length
Serve and Return
Winners and Errors (returns and rally shots)
1st Serves
2nd Serves
Return & rallying performance
Points won breakdown
This final section gives a last, broader look at the match by presenting how each player won points. Points are listed according to their frequency (highest to lowest) and are named in relation to the last touch on the ball. For simplicity, groundstrokes hit from the 5th shot onwards are grouped together.
Breakdown by side (FHs or BHs)
Breakdown by error type (UFEs or FEs)
To find out more about the stats published here, please visit the following post.
Even though they follow the same criteria used on all major tennis events, they are not official WTA or ITF stats. They are collected through our own rigorous video analysis.
Thanks for reading!
— Tennis Inside Numbers