Ivo Karlovic edges past Juan Monaco into the second round – Rogers Cup 2011
World number 125, Croatian Ivo Karlovic defeated Argentinean Juan Monaco, ranked 39th in the world, in three sets 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(5) in the first round at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Monday. The former world number
14 needed two hours and 34 minutes to win the match.
Karlovic and Monaco did not lose any of their service games throughout the first set and levelled the score at 6-6 to take the set to a tie-break. The Argentinean outclassed his opponent in the tie-break, claiming three mini-breaks
to bag it 7-2.
The right-handed fired two aces and sealed 22 of the 25 first service points in the first set. The Argentinean was formidable on the second serve as he claimed seven of the nine second service points. On the other hand, Karlovic
smacked six aces and won an incredible 21 of the 23 points on the first serve in the opening set. Monaco and the Croatian failed to create even a single break point opportunity in the first set.
After losing the opening set with a close margin, Karlovic made a very good start in the second set, breaking the Argentinean in the second game and holding his serve in the next game to take a 3-0 lead. The Croatian broke Monaco
again in the sixth game to take a 5-1 lead but failed to consolidate on it as he lost his serve in the next game, taking the score to 5-2. Karlovic succeeded in serving out the set at 5-3.
The Croatian delivered 63 percent of the first serves, winning thirteen of the seventeen points on them in the second set. Karlovic fired two aces and claimed six of the ten points on the second serve. The six feet and ten inches
tall lost the only break point he faced but won two of the four break points he received in the second set.
In a similar fashion to the opening set, Karlovic and the Argentinean held their serve throughout the final set and squared off the score at 6-6, forcing a tie-break. The Croatian, however, raised the level of his game in the tie-break
and claimed a lone mini-break to win it 7-5.
Karlovic kept his first serve percentage at 72 percent and smashed a whopping seven aces in the third set. The 32-year-old captured 21 of the 28 points on the first serve in the final set.
The Croatian is slated to play either Philipp Petzschner of Germany or Frenchman Gilles Simon in the second round.
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