- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
scoreline: Kyrgios 7-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
Terrific match from Kyrgios against the big serving Ivo Karlovic. Kyrgios in my opinion served better despite serving less aces. Under pressure, it was Kyrgios who rose to the occasion and produced on the big points when it mattered. The Australian now has a real eye for a fourth round spot where Federer could await. On form, Kyrgios will be hard to beat.
Expect plenty of aces today as Nick Kyrgios clashes against the big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the second round of the Australian Open. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from around 5:00pm AEDT.
Kyrgios is coming off a taxing five-set win over Argentine Federico Delbonis. The injury time-out that the young Australian needed to treat his back in the first set seemed to do the trick as he rallied from a break down to secure the first set.
Overall, Kyrgios got a good workout against Delbonis and finished the match strongly after the Argentine won the fourth set in a tie-breaker.
At his best, Kyrgios would start a warm favourite against Karlovic. While Karlovic is the bigger server, Kyrgios has the better all-court game as demonstrated by last year’s remarkable win over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon.
However, Kyrgios’ back problems will continue to be a hot topic of discussion as long as he remains in the tournament. Against a big server like Karlovic, Kyrgios may have to brace himself for a lengthy affair against a player who hardly loses his own serve.
In short, Kyrgios’ back will get another lengthy workout and it remains to be seen if the Australian is able to push on through any pain he may be experiencing.
Karlovic on the other hand is enjoying a new lease of life on the ATP tour and is playing some fine tennis at the age of 35. His biggest scalp of the year is none other than Novak Djokovic, who he beat in three tight sets in Doha en route to the semi-finals.
With such a big serve in his arsenal, Karlovic loves to employ the serve and volley and such play may work well against an opponent with some fitness concerns.
Despite battling back soreness, the home crowd should drive Kyrgios on as it has done for many Australians in action so far at the Open. The crowd factor should be enough inspiration for Kyrgios to secure a tight win.
Kyrgios in four sets.