Ivo Karlovic dismisses Michael Berrer in the opening round – Slovak Open 2012 CH
Seeded eighth in the draw, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia reached the second round of the Slovak Open in Bratislava, after beating the world number 131 from Germany, Michael Berrer, in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-4 in his opening match.
The Croatian contestant required one hour and 13 minutes to undo his German rival.
All of their serves were convincingly held by Karlovic and Berrer in the first set, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. There was nothing to separate between these till 4-4 but then the Croatian national grabbed
three successive points to seal it 7-6(4).
Karlovic bombarded eight aces on Berrer and committed a single double fault in the first set, hitting 67 percent of the first serves and pocketing 23 of the 26 points on them. The 33-year-old performed pathetically on the first
returns, as he lost 24 of the 26 points on them. The Zagreb, Croatia resident could not create any break opportunity but also evaded all the three threats he came across.
In the second set, Karlovic and Berrer started the proceedings in the same way as they had done in the first, winning their serves in the opening nine games to take the score to 5-4 in favour of the Croatian. Another tie-breaker
looked on cards at that moment but Berrer was unable to hold and went down 4-6.
Both players banged in five aces in the second set but Berrer committed one double fault compared to none by Karlovic. The Croatian took complete advantage of his strong serves, as he kept the first delivery percentage at 75 and
grabbed 15 of the 18 points on them. The 6ft 10in tall did not face even a single break point this time and succeeded in converting the only one he received.
The former world number 14, Karlovic, has compiled a 16-17 win/loss record in tour level matches in this season. The right-hander did not perform quite well during most of the year but managed to reach the last-four stage at the
Kremlin Cup in Moscow last month.
Karlovic will face the winner of the match between Dusan Lajovic and Illya Marchenko in the second round.
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