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10/11/09 8:06 PM | Ricky Dimon
James Blake lost to Ivo Karlovic in a five-set Davis Cup thriller back in July. On Monday, Blake will face Karlovic again, this time at the Shanghai Masters.
It will be the seventh career meeting between James Blake and Ivo Karlovic when the two veterans square off in the first round of the Masters Series Shanghai on Monday afternoon. Karlovic leads the head-to-head series 4-2 after most recently prevailing 6-7(5), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 7-5 in a quarterfinal Davis Cup rubber.
Blake was not exactly playing well even before that devastating loss to Karlovic, but it got even worse for the American thereafter. He lost his opener at the Masters Series Cincinnati to a struggling Igor Kunitsyn, then got blown out in the third round of the U.S. Open by Tommy Robredo. Amazingly, Blake is still ranked 24th in the world (as of Sunday) and could be rounding into form. He advanced one round last week in Beijing before falling to Rafael Nadal in a close three-setter.
Karlovic followed up his Davis Cup win over Blake with a quarterfinal showing at the Legg Mason Classic, but he has been in dismal form ever since. The 6'10'' Croat's disappointing hard-court summer was highlighted by a first-round, straight-set U.S. Open loss to unheralded Spaniard Ivan Navarro. Still, the world No. 30 is clearly capable of turning things around at any moment since his serve makes him extraordinarily dangerous.
Although Blake has been struggling, he showed signs of life last week with his respectable showing in Beijing. It is safe to assume that this match--like most Karlovic matches--will come down to just a few critical points, more than likely in tiebreakers. Karlovic has not been winning a ton of those recently, so look for Blake to pull out a victory in three sets.
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