Article

  • Karlovic and Ferrero highlight first round in Vienna

    10/6/08 5:09 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - The Bank Austria Tennis Trophy gets kicked off with a bang on Monday afternoon, as Ivo Karlovic and Juan Carlos Ferrero will battle for a spot in the second round.

    It will be the second career head-to-head meeting between Ivo Karlovic and Juan Carlos Ferrero when the two players partake in what could be the best match of the entire Bank Austria Tennis Trophy first round. The Vienna crowd should be treated to a more thrilling encounter than the first one between these two. Ferrero handled Karlovic 6-4, 6-1 on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo back in 2005.

    Indoor hard courts will be far more conducive to Karlovic's game than dirt. The 6'10'' Croat owns a huge serve, of course, and he likes to keep points as short as possible. The surface in Austria will help such efforts, although Karlovic has not exactly been dynamite throughout the current hard-court swing. He stunned Roger Federer en route to the Masters Series Cincinnati semifinals, but he also suffered disappointing losses in New Haven and at the U.S. Open. Karlovic did not look good last week in Metz, where he fell to Carlos Moya in the second round.

    Ferrero's form, likewise, is questionable at the moment, but as usual he can make the injury excuse. After a strong start to the year and an upset of Rafael Nadal on the clay of Rome, the Spaniard retired in the first round of the French Open and since then he has played just two tournaments. The most recent of those, however, produced encouraging signs. Ferrero won two matches in Beijing--one over Fernando Verdasco--before extending eventual champ Andy Roddick to three sets.

    The bad news for Ferrero is that his second go-around with Karlovic is not on the slow stuff. The good news is that his return of serve is strong enough to thwart the big man's service advantage even on indoor hard courts. If Karlovic fails to put in a ton of first serves, Ferrero should be able to capitalize for a few breaks, and one or two breaks will make all the difference in a matchup like this one. In addition to maintaining a top-notch service percentage, Karlovic also must chip-and-charge whenever gets looks at second serves. A flawless serving day will fend of an upset for Karlovic, but Ferrero in a three-set thriller is the pick.

Tell a friend »

Comments


Write comment

You have to be logged in to comment. If you do not have an account, click here to register. It only takes a minute and you'll be redirected back to this page.
Username:

Password: