"We're in for a fantastic final match"

We’ll get to see an amazing final match on Sunday night, which makes us very happy and proves once again that year after year Umag is where good things happen.

The first one was the way in which Nino Serdarušić and Blaž Rola even placed in the doubles tournament and ended up winning the title, so this season could be remembered for several big things.

When it comes to the singles tournament, Alexei Popyrin deserves to be in the final. He eliminated Matteo Arnaldi and he was definitely better in that match. Much better. The Australian could have won the first set as well, but Arnaldi bounced back having won both of his break points and eventually the set. In the second set, Popyrin lost multiple chances, and consequences could have been dire, but he made it through. He played very well and it’s a very big deal that he is in the final. It goes without saying that his current ATP ranking (90th place) is far from realistic, as this tournament shows how good he actually is.

Stan played phenomenally. In the statement he gave on the court, he said that this was his best match of the week, and I fully agree. With the way he played, Sonego never stood a chance. It’s now quite realistic to expect Wawrinka to win the title in Umag again, but he’ll have to be at his best on Sunday. Both he and Popyrin are hard hitters and I think we can look forward to an amazing final match.

Nino and Blaž have done something truly wonderful. They agreed to play together in the locker rooms just before the draw, received an invitation and ended up winning the whole thing. The tie break was unbelievable, and I’m so happy that so many people came to see this match live and cheered loudly. The atmosphere was fantastic, and the guys truly deserved it. After all these years, it is awesome to have a winning pair include a Croatian player, although no one could have predicted this at the start. And so the final match is all that is left.