Ivo Karlovic defeats Donald Young in the qualifying final at the 2011 US Men’s Clay Court Championships
Croat Ivo Karlovic won his third match after defeating Donald Young in straight sets in the qualifying final on Monday. The Croatian player won the match in under one hours and 10 minutes, ruling Young’s serve.
Given their first meeting on courts, the Croat now leads their head to head career by 1-0. Karlovic has already won a title here in 2007 where he reached the finals defeating Albert Montanes of Spain in straight sets. In the finals he ousted Mariano
Zabaleta of Argentina in two sets 6-4, 6-1 to claim his first ever U.S Men’s Clay Court Championships title.
Playing each other for the first time, the crowd saw an incredible display of tennis from the Croat as he fired in twelve aces and won 79 per cent of first serves in total. The match didn’t see any double fault coming from him, though Young committed
3 double faults. In the first set, Karlovic delivered 6 aces, 70 per cent of first serves and gained 94 per cent points on his first serves. Young, on the other hand double faulted three times, struck 53 per cent of the first serves and converted 81 per cent
on them. First set saw, Karlovic not facing a single breakpoint opportunity, while the American saved 75 per cent of his break points. Breaking his opponent in the fifth and third game, Karlovic clinched the first set 6-4 going one up in the set score.
Karlovic who had gained enough boost from the first set win, delivered 6 aces, 66 per cent first serves and gained 84 per cent of points on them. While his opponent was again at his bad, landing with 55 per cent first serves, winning 69 per cent
of points on them. Both players couldn’t save any breakpoint opportunity coming their way, though the Croat managed to play his best winning it 6-4 in a set score.
The Croat will next face Benjamin Becker of Germany in the first round of the main draw. This will be the sixth meeting between these two players with Karlovic leading their head-to-head 5-0.
Karlovic’s most renowned performance came at the 2010 Australian Open where he was knocked down by the ultimate defending champion and second seed Rafael Nadal in a four set marathon of a match. He went on to reach his career best appearance after
defeating Radek Stepanek, Julien Benneteau and Ivan Ljubicic in a four set thriller. Young, on the other side, made his most prominent appearance at the 2007 U.S Open where he reached the third round of the event defeating Chris Guccione and Richard Gasquet
in the first two rounds respectively, before losing to Feliciano Lopez in four thrilling sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-7(5), 5-7.
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