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After enduring a marathon against Horacio Zeballos in five sets, Ivo Karlovic faces Australian wildcard Andrew Whittington in the second round. Join The Roar for live scores from around 4pm (AEDT).
In his first grand slam, Whittington has made quite the splash, crashing into the main draw with a wildcard entry.
The Melburnian opened his maiden grand slam with a match against Czech Adam Pavlásek. Whittington got off to a strong start, taking the first set before Pavlásek fought back in the second. Off the back of some early breaks, Whittington found a comfortable lead in the third set before blasting the 22-year-old in the fourth to claim a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory.
His Aussie Open debut comes after an unsuccessful start to 2017 which saw him crash out of the qualifying stages at both Brisbane and Sydney recording losses against Frances Tiafoe and Santiago Giraldo respectively.
Whittington is in with a fighting chance if he gets off to a good start with Karlovic coming off a five-hour marathon against Argentine Horacio Zeballos.
If the Aussie can defend Karlovic’s serve, he will be in good stead with the Croatian’s fatigue likely to affect him.
It was a tough fixture for Karlovic, hitting 75 aces in a five hour and 15-minute battle which featured a total of 84 games, the longest Australian Open match since tiebreaks were introduced.
He staged an incredible comeback after losing the first two sets to record a 6-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 22-20 victory.
Karlovic needs to get off to a good start against Whittington and can’t afford to drop a set early on, otherwise he will tire in the heat of the Melbourne sun.
Karlovic and Whittington have never played each other on the ATP Tour.
The winner of this match will come up against either veteran Radek Stepanek or 11th seed David Goffin.
Prediction
Karlovic will open strongly, however Whittington will find himself on the front foot as Karlovic’s fatigue kicks in, sending the Australian wildcard through to a third round appearance.
Whittington in four sets.
Join The Roar for live scores from around 4pm (AEDT) following the completion of world No.14 Roberto Bautista Agut and Yoshihito Nishioka.
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