Peter Gojowczyk stuns Ivo Karlovic in the qualifiers – Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2013
German underdog, Peter Gojowczyk, had a fierce battle against the Croatian veteran, Ivo Karlovic, and came out as the winner in the opening qualifying round of Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Saturday. The 181st ranked German
hunted down second seeded Karlovic in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6(5), taking just one hour and 30 minutes.
Gojowczyk was off to a flyer in the opening set, breaking his superior ranked opponent in the very first game and holding his following serve to impose a 2-0 lead up front. Karlovic kept struggling to curtail the score deficit
in throughout the set but he wasn’t successful in the process. He held his remaining serves in the set but the initial blow from the German wrapped up the opener at 6-4 in his favour.
A more competitive second set was witnessed, with second seeded Karlovic battling hard to make his way back in the contest. He was successful in breaking the German serve in the sixth game but only to be broken in the very next
game. The scores kept moving on even terms until a tie-break round came into play at 6-6. Gojowczyk proved to be the better player under pressure and finished off the match at 7-6(5) in style.
The 100th ranked Croatian had an impressive serve game throughout the match but his underrated opponent kept bagging crucial points to sustain the upper hand. The second seeded hot favourite banged in 17 aces in the
contest, winning 39 out of 49 first serve points and cashing in the lone break opportunity he received from his opponent. On the other hand, Gojowczyk cruised swiftly through the matchup with his 63 per cent precise first serve and bagged 29 out of 43 points
on it. He crafted a total of seven break opportunities and converted two of them en route to victory.
Gojowczyk will take on his fellow unseeded compatriot, Dustin Brown, in the second round of the qualifying draw on Sunday. Brown had a tough three-setter against Czech Republic’s Jan Mertl in the opening round but eventually finished
off with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, score line to reach the second qualifying rounds of the tournament.
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