Ivo Karlovic ousts Marinko Matosevic to reach the second round – Thailand Open 2012
World number 80, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, booked his place in the last 16-stage by downing the 57th ranked player, Marinko Matosevic, in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Thailand Open in Bangkok.
It took the Croatian national an hour and 13 minutes to down Matosevic in a one sided contest.
Karlovic and Matosevic began the match by comfortably winning their opening serves to square off the proceedings at 1-1. The Australian contestant was first to strike, as he bagged a breakthrough in the third game to move ahead
but Karlovic did not take much time to even it out at 2-2. The Croatian star hit another blow in the eighth and capitalised on it to win 6-3.
In the second set, first four games went with serve and the score was tied at 2-2. Karlovic nailed a break in the fifth and consolidated on it to attain a 4-2 lead. The Croatian participant maintained his lead till the end and
grabbed it 6-4.
Karlovic, who is the tallest player on the ATP World Tour, having a height of 6ft and 10in, completely unsettled his Australian rival by bombarding nine aces on him. The right-hander pocketed 27 of the 33 first and 10 of the 16
second delivery points. The 33-year-old veteran failed to save the only break point he faced but converted all the three he received.
Karlovic’s career best ranking is 14, which he attained back in 2008 but now his performance has gone down with increasing age.
The Croatian will take on the third seed, Milos Raonic of Canada, in the second round. Raonic, who got a bye at the opening stage, enjoyed some Thai boxing in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Commenting on the experience, the Canadian number one shared that he played kick for the first time in his life. He stated, ''This is my first time learning Thai boxing. I think it is not for me because I am very tall.''
Raonic, who is Canada’s highest ranked player in its history, has broken into the top 15 now and looks to be the next big player on the ATP World Tour.
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