Novak Djokovic suffers a shock defeat to his compatriot Dusan Lajovic

Novak Djokovic suffered a shock loss in the Srpska Open quarterfinals with a straight set loss against Dusan Lajovic.

It was the first time world number one Djokovic had lost to a fellow Serb since Janko Tipsarevic beat him 11 years ago.

Djokovic, who admitted during his pre-tournament press conference that he had been battling an elbow problem, lost 6-4, 7-6 in Banja Luka in Bosnia.

For Lajovic, it was only the third victory of his career against a player who is in the top five of the world rankings.

It was Djokovic’s third loss of the season, and the Madrid Open is his next scheduled tournament, which begins later this month.

“I’m overwhelmed, it’s the biggest win of my career,” Lajovic said in his on-pitch interview, reported by www.atptour.com.

“Emotions are very mixed because I am playing here against my hometown and I am also playing against a good friend and he is a hero of our country.

“Beating him, it’s something I didn’t even think was going to be possible, but it happened.

“His first serve percentage wasn’t the best, so I was able to use that to my advantage. But overall, I think it was very good tennis from me.”