Juan Martin Del Potro dumps Ivo Karlovic: Argentina vs. Croatia – Davis Cup WG Quarter-Finals 2012
Team Argentina was lagging behind 0-1 when the world number 10, Juan Martin Del Porto, stepped on the clay courts of Parque Roca, Buenos Aires, to face the Croatian veteran, Ivo Karlovic. Del Potro was suffering from stomach problem
but he had no real difficulty in disposing of Karlovic in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6(7), 6-1, to level the scores at 1-1 in the Davis Cup World Group quarter-final on Friday.
Del Potro wasn’t at his 100 per cent but his commitment to the game and the national duty to represent his flag in the coveted ITF (International Tennis Federation) team event. His side was 0-1 down after David Nalbandian lost
the opening singles rubber to Croatian number one, Marin Cilic, earlier in the afternoon. Team Argentina needed their spearhead to deliver his best in the second rubber and Del Potro did exactly the same to rescue his side.
The 10th ranked Argentine took off the opening side in his usual belligerent fashion and raced through the games to bag it in no time. Karlovic finally got his eye settled in the game in the following set and posed some
solid resistance to halt Del Potro’s winning impetus. He eventually lost the second set after a stiff competition in the tie-breaker round and utterly failed to do anything in the third set, suffering a loss with a breadstick.
The Argentine banged in 10 aces on his 64 per cent precise serve and amazingly won 42 out of 53 first serve points en route to victory. He had 11 break opportunities in the contest but only four conversions proved sufficient for
him to outclass his opponent. Karlovic, on the other hand, completely failed to register a single break point in the entire matchup, frittering away the lone break point he had in the opening set, to finish on the losing side in the end.
Earlier that day, Nalbandian and Cilic put up a five-hour marathon battle to entertain the local crowd. The Croatian tennis ace won the taxing battle at, 5-7, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3, to take his side one up early in the tie but
Del Potro’s thumping victory over Karlovic frittered away the advantage of the visitors later on.
The doubles matchup will be played on Saturday afternoon and Nalbandian will team up with Eduardo Schwank to face the duo of Cilic and Lovro Zovko. The reverse singles will be played on Sunday to verify the winner of the quarter-final
tie.
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