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5/9/09 4:17 PM | Ricky Dimon
Lukasz Kubot upsets Ivo Karlovic in straight sets at the Serbia Open on Saturday afternoon. He awaits either Novak Djokovic or Andreas Seppi in what will be a surprising inaugural title match.
The dream week for Lukasz Kubot continued on Saturday afternoon in Belgrade.
Kubot, who needed a lucky-loser entrance just to get into the main draw, stunned Ivo Karlovic 7-6(0), 6-2 in one hour and 37 minutes to reach the final of the inaugural Serbia Open.
Not too surprisingly, both men took care of their service games throughout the first set. Karlovic blasted 10 aces and won an impressive 18 of 20 first-serve points while saving two break points along the way. Kubot, mixing in serve-and-volley tactics to put pressure on his opponent, did not face a single break point and lost just nine points in his six service games. The ensuing tiebreaker was as lopsided as the previous part of the set had been competitive. The world No. 179 earned two quick mini-breaks on Karlovic's serve and never looked back. Karlovic struggled immensely with his first serve and the result was a 7-0 blanking in Kubot's favor.
Karlovic had a chance to get back in the match early in the second, but he squandered a key break-point opportunity right away in the opening game. The first break of the match finally came with Karlovic serving at 2-3. Belgrade's No. 2 seed saved one at 15-40, but Kubot produced a huge backhand passing shot on his second break chance, raising his fist in the air in triumph. The set and break lead was almost short-lived, however, as the 6'3'' Pole fell into a 0-40 hole on serve at 4-2. But on his three break points, Karlovic failed to put a single return in play. He missed two routine forehands and Kubot came up with a service winner on the other critical point. Kubot went on to hold with two more big serves. Unable to recover from the missed opportunity, Karlovic went away quickly. His opponent closed out the match in style with a second break, finishing it off at ad-out with a clinching forehand pass.
While Kubot has been nothing short of impressive over the past two days--including this upset along with a straight-set quarterfinal win over Kristof Vliegen--he was lucky earlier in the week. After losing in the final round of qualifying on Monday, Kubot got a spot in the main draw when Steve Darcis pulled out. Kubot then got to play unheralded wildcard Arsenije Zlatanovic in the first round before enjoying safe passage through the second round when No. 3 seed Igor Andreev retired with an abdominal strain just five games into their match.
It's often said that it's better to be lucky than good, but right now Kubot is both--and he will need to be on Sunday as a heavy underdog against either No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic or third-seeded Andreas Seppi. Djokovic and Seppi are contesting their semifinal during Saturday's night session. Kubot has never faced Seppi and has played Djokovic once; but that was five years ago at a Challenger event in Budapest, where Djokovic prevailed in straight sets.
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Now it's even easier for Novak to get the much needed 250...great to see an improbable run though...
thefanchild , 5/9/09 7:43 PM