The ATP Chennai event is a victory for age over beauty so far. Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, who turns 40 next month, put Ernests Gulbis to the sword–using two tiebreaks to do so, of course. He is joined in the semis by Belgium’s Steve Darcis, who turns 35 in March. Darcis beat Malek Jazri in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
Ivo Karlovic and Steve Darcis Have Only Met Once Before
On the lush grass of Wimbledon 2009 was this pair’s only previous match. Karlovic won in three sets, and there wasn’t a tie-break in sight. There may well be one in their next match up, though. It is hard to see there not being at least one tie-break between these two big servers.
Darcis, the World #76, currently outranks Karlovic by 24 ranking places. Both players know far better than to pay too much credence to rankings. First serve is likely to dominate. Over the years you could argue that Karlovic has been the better of the two at returning serve. This might give him the needed edge to outfox his fellow wily opponent.
Ivo Karlovic- You’re as Young as the Guy You Beat in the First Round
In the first round of this Chennai ATP tournament, Karlovic conceded 21 years in dispatching 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime. Impressively, Karlovic converted 100% (2/2) of his break point chances. This demonstrates that if you give him a sniff of a chance – then he’ll take it. Taking the rare chances that may come his way is the key for Karlovic against Darcis.
Prediction: Karlovic should sneak this, in three sets.
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Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article contained inaccurate information. That section has been removed.
