Hey, folks. Is everyone still enjoying the tennis? Today Karlovic set a new record for aces hit in a best-of-three set match. He beat his own record of 44 aces, but that record he held with Philippoussis. Now he is alone in front after smashing 45 aces past Berdych today in a 7-5, 6-7(8), 6-3 victory. He also takes a 5-3 lead in the head-to-head with Berdych with this victory. Given his record against Berdych I guess this win wasn’t all that surprising then. But still a very good win for him.
I don’t know how you beat someone who fires 45 aces past you over three sets. I guess the best you can do is hold on to your own serve and hope for the best in a tie-break. That is what Berdych did in the second set and it worked. But if you keep holding your serve with ease it puts pressure on the other guy’s serve too. Probably this allowed Karlovic to break serve in the first and third sets. Karlovic now plays Federer who bageled Mayer 6-0, 7-6(1). I watched only the second set of that match and Mayer didn’t impress me.
But I assume Federer played well in the first set to get the bagel. In the second set, Mayer had some chances but as usual Federer just snuffed it out with a service winner. Then in the tie-break Federer was just solid while Mayer was poor. The fact that Berdych lost is great news for Federer. He leads Karlovic 12-1 in the head-to-head as opposed to Berdych who is a bogeyman for him. The only guy who I thought from the start would really be a threat for Federer was Berdych and he is gone now.
Halle is Now Federer’s Title to Lose
So this is clearly his title to lose now. Maybe if Karlovic serves another 45 aces and plays some surprisingly good return games he can cause the upset, but probably he won’t be able to break Federer. There will probably be a tie-break in the first set and the winner of it will become the favorite. But Federer is a good returner of big serves so maybe he can even avoid a tie-break in the first set. I think it should be a good contest anyway and I am looking forward to it.
In the bottom half, you have Seppi against whom Monfils withdrew in the second set and Nishikori who needed three sets to get past Janowicz. You’d expect Nishikori to get through but whoever gets through in the top half should be the favorite due to a better serve. Nishikori’s serve is pretty much a joke for his level of tennis and I never see him being a serious threat at Wimbledon.
Muller defeated Dimitrov in straight sets yesterday who I predict will lose first round at Wimbledon after making semis last year. That would also cause him to tumble down the rankings where he belongs. As for Muller, his serve is a damaging shot on the grass and he backs it up with a good net game. His problem is his movement which is quite poor, but he still made life very difficult for Murray today. After Murray lost the first set he did well to win the second set in the tiebreak and win 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4.
It was a tough test for Murray and he did well to come through in the end. He is the favorite for the title, but he plays a rejuvenated Troicki tomorrow who sent Isner packing in straight sets. It seems Troicki is now back where he was before his ban which wasn’t easy to do. He also beat Cilic again yesterday after beating him in Stuttgart. I guess he really likes to play on grass right now. In the bottom half, Simon upset Raonic in three sets while Anderson continued his good run with a straight set victory over Garcia-Lopez.
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