Ivo Karlovic throws out Lleyton Hewitt in the first round – AEGON Championships 2012
Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, seeded 16th at the event, bulldozed former world number one, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round at the AEGON Championships in Queen’s Club, London on Tuesday. It
took the Croatian star just an hour and four minutes to topple his Australian rival.
Karlovic and Hewitt started by holding their serve in the first three games, taking the score to 2-1 in the former’s favour. The Croatian grabbed initial breakthrough in the fourth and consolidated on it to attain a 4-1 lead. He
did not lose any of his own serves, closing the opener 6-3.
The 6ft 10in tall bombarded 11 aces and 75 percent of the first serves in the first set. He had a stunning conversion rate, winning 15 of the 18 first and five of the six second delivery points. The Croatian did not provide any
break opportunity to Hewitt and availed one of the five of his own.
In the second set, Karlovic and Hewitt won their serve in the opening two games, levelling the score at 1-1. The Croatian snatched double break later on, capturing four consecutively and building a 5-1 lead. Hewitt reduced the
trail to 2-5 by holding his following serve but lost the next game to go down 2-6.
Karlovic matched his opening set’s tally of 11 aces and put in 74 percent of the first serves. The right-hander gave near flawless performance on them, converting 13 of the 14 into points. The Croatian also replied impressively
to his opponent’s deliveries, claiming seven of the 16 first and 10 of the 19 second serve points.
This was a severe blow to Hewitt’s preparations for the Wimbledon Championships. The Australian said, giving an interview after the end of contest, "It's not really a tennis match in some ways when you're playing against a guy
like that. The rallies and the skill in the other form of the game is totally out of your control."
The 2002 Wimbledon champion added, "It doesn't give you a chance to do a lot of things. You can't assess where you're at, at the moment. I can't assess my movement. So it's just a frustrating day, all up. There were plenty of better
draws for me to get some matches under my belt."
Karlovic is slated to face Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu in the second round.
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