Clement Holds On Against Big Serving Karlovic
By Ed McGrogan
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Ivo Karlovic’s powerful serve never waned in intensity from
the beginning to the end of his first round match against Arnaud
Clement. But in spite of having this consistent and powerful weapon
at his disposal, Karlovic was denied victory because his opponent’s
return of serve was even better.
Karlovic, the tour's tallest player, fired 38 aces during the four-hour
and eight-minute battle, but a considerable amount of them came before
Clement got into a groove when returning serve. Once Clement – whose
trademark shades came in handy on this hot and sunny day – started to
put Ivo’s serves back into play, his superior groundstrokes often
prevailed.
The Frenchman took the first two sets 7-6 and 6-4, and a straight sets
upset appeared to be in the making. But Karlovic showed his versatility
during the latter stages of this match, in particular at net, where his
overlooked volleying skills won him a number of points. With most of
Court 11's near capacity crowd pulling for more tennis (and in turn,
for Karlovic), the Croatian fed off of the energy and comfortably won
the third set 6-4.
Clement had his chances to end the match in the fourth set, but could
never put the final nail in the coffin. Karlovic painted the lines with
his forehand, often to the disbelief of the animated Clement. In the
tiebreaker, Clement clawed his way back from a 6-1 deficit, but Karlovic
held on – barely – and won it by an 8-6 score. The fourth set was the
longest of the match, going 74 minutes in duration.
With a two sets to none lead vanished, Clement was on the verge of a
complete collapse. But he avoided this by relying on his best shot –
the return of serve. Clement played aggressively in the third game of
the final set, and grabbed an early 2-1 lead. Staying composed, the
veteran held serve until the end, winning a thrilling, up-and-down
match 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7, 6-4.
In the second round, Clement will play Thomas Johansson, who defeated
Nicolas Massu in four sets.
Court 11 - Men's Singles - 1st Round
Ivo Karlovic CRO (32) 6(5) 4 6 7 4
Arnaud Clement FRA Winner 7 6 4 6(6) 6
Match Facts
- Clement had 10 aces compared to Karlovic's 38.
- Karlovic's fastest serve clocked at 142 MPH.
- Karlovic came to the net often - 129 times - and won 53% of
his points there.
- This was the first Grand Slam that Karlovic has been seeded at (#32).
- Prior to today's match, Karlovic and Clement had split their
head-to-head matches at 2-2.
- This is Karlovic's eleventh first round loss in the seventeen
Grand Slam tournaments he's played in.
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