Lukasz Kubot stuns Ivo Karlovic in the opening round – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Polish tennis ace, Lukasz Kubot, carried on his amazing run against the world number 42, Ivo Karlovic, in the opening round of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. He nailed his third successive victory against the superior-ranked
Croatian to lead 3-0 in their head-to-head combats, earning a place in the second round of the season’s first ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event in Indian Wells, California. The final scores were 6-4, 6-2, in favour of the 52nd
ranked pole competitor.
These two went one-on-one last year in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships and Kubot won that encounter in straight sets as well. Despite being the superior in rankings, Karlovic has never won a set against Kubot in
all of their three matches, suffering crushing defeats every time he plays him. His dismal run of form continued on Thursday as well, crashing out of the star-studded event in his very first match at the hands of Kubot.
Although the unseeded Pole delivered just 58 per cent of his serve on target, he dropped just six points on it, securing 25 out of 31 first serve points in the matchup. Kubot crafted seven break opportunities in the two sets and
converted three of them to drive the Croat veteran out of the competition in style. Karlovic badly failed to convert any of the break chances he had in the match, frittering away all the four vital opportunities to finish on the losing side in the end.
A steady start to the opening set saw both men dragging the scores to 3-3 without much drama. Kubot finally made the first move to break the Croatian serve in the seventh game and then held his lead to seal the set at 6-4. He then
went for a four-game rampage in the next set, racing to 4-0 early and then finished it off in style by holding his serve at 5-2.
Kubot is slated to face the former world number one, Andy Roddick of the United States, in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday. The 30th seed home favourite got a bye to the second round of the tournament
and will begin his voyage in Indian Wells against Kubot.
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