David Ferrer v Ivo Karlovic
Tennis: ATP Masters Miami 3rd round
Sunday, 28th March 2010 - Start 8pm GMT

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Preview

The 3rd round of the Masters tournament in Miami has thrown up some interesting match ups and this is one of them. We have the speedy returner in the form of David Ferrer against one of the biggest servers in tennis history, Ivo Karlovic.

David Ferrer is the World Number 17 and was famously quoted as calling himself the worst player ever to make the top 100. He is a player that works hard at his game and he has been rewarded with a strong career- in my opinion, Ferrer should be looked up to by the tennis association of Great Britain as an example of what kind of player can be created with hard work and dedication without the outstanding skills.

The Spaniard was a straight sets winner in the 2nd round over Michael Llodra and served exceptionally without having to face a break point in the course of 2 sets. He bounced back from his 2nd round loss at Indian Wells last time out here, and he has had a good start to the season off the back of helping Spain win the Davis Cup last season.

He has had a strong record on hard courts over the last few seasons although he is only 5-4 so far this season.

Ivo Karlovic has always been a tough opponent but he has never really shown a great consistency in either Masters events or in Grand Slam tournaments. The Croatian is currently the World Number 29 but looks to be on a downward slide as he passes his 30th birthday.

It took 3 sets in the last round to dispose of Daniel Gimeno-Traver, a match Karlovic would have expected to win in an easier fashion than it turned out to be. The aces kept coming, Karlovic hitting 28 in the 3 sets, but he also had to fight off 5 break points. It seems that Dr Ivo has to do this more often these days and I feel he has lost a step in his movement which made him so difficult to break.

Karlovic does not have a great record on the hard courts which is a surprise to me, although he is 10-4 so far this season after finishing as Runner Up at Delray Beach recently. He too was an early loser at Indian Wells last time out. Karlovic will be hoping he can return to winning ways this season on the hard courts after finishing with a losing record last season.

These 2 players have met once before. On that occasion, David Ferrer won in 2 sets in Tokyo on a hard court. This match took place at the back end of 2007.

Prediction

This should be close solely because of the serving ability of Ivo Karlovic. I think that David Ferrer has enough in his game to make returns and he will get his chances to break serve. I also feel the Spaniard is better from the back of the court and I think he will get through, although it may take 3 sets to do so.

I will back Ferrer as the winner as he is too consistent on this court than the Croatian can handle.

The Pick :

David Ferrer to go through

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

David Ferrer WIN @ 1.72 (Boylesports/StanJames)