Ivo Karlovic fought back from a set down to edge past Stan Wawrinka with 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4. Wawrinka looked to be in control of the match until the second set when he was leading 6-3 3-1 but Karlovic turned around the match winning the second set with 7-2 at the tie-break. Karlovic got the break at the start of the third set. Wawrinka saved two match points at 3-5 but Karlovic served out for the match to take the third set with 6-4.
Swiss hero Stan Wawrinka, 2015 Roland Garros champion, faced a very tough debut against Ivo Karlovic, who hit 1340 aces this year and broke the record of aces held by his countryman Goran Ivanisevic during the China Open in Beijing. Wawrinka led 5-1 in his previous head-to-head matches against Karlovic, including a three-set win last August in Cincinnati.
The first three games went on serve. Wawrinka held his serve with a service winner in the third game before breaking serve in the the fourth game as Karlovic made two double faults.
Wawrinka consolidated the break by holding his serve in the fifth game for 4-1. Karlovic hit a service winner to win his service game for 4-2. Both players held their next service games en route to 5-3. Wawrinka served for the first set. He saved two break points in the ninth game before closing out the first set with a service winner.
In the second set Karlovic faced three break points. Wawrinka converted his third opportunity to go up 1-0 before winning his service game in the second game. Karlovic managed to hold his serve in the third game for 1-2. Wawrinka won his service game with a service winner to open up a 3-1 lead.
Karlovic won two consecutive games breaking back to draw level to 3-3 and consolidated the break to love to take the 4-3 lead. The break-back turned around the match in favour of Karlovic. Wawrinka won his next service game to love for 4-4. Both players held their next service games en route to the tie-break.
Karlovic got two mini-breaks on the second and the seventh points to take a 5-2 lead and served out for the set forcing the match to the third set.
Wawrinka faced two break points at the start of the third set. Karlovic converted the break point with a forehand error by Wawrinka and held his service game to open up a 2-0 lead. Both players went on serve in the next five games en route to 4-3 for Karlovic.
The Croatian ace record holder earned two match points on Wawrinka’s serve at 5-3. Wawrinka saved both match points with his serve and his backhand winner. Karlovic served out for the match with his third consecutive ace after 1 hour and 48 minutes.
“I had a poor first set and missed a lot of my volleys but I began improving in the second set and got a bit lucky when I converted my break points in the sixth game at 3-3. After that things started going my way”, said Karlovic
Wawrinka hit 35 winners to 24 unforced errors and converted two of his five break points. He won 82 percent of his first serve points. Karlovic hit 29 winners to 27 unforced errors and converted two of his six break points. He fired 21 aces and made 3 double faults
Karlovic will face Dusan Lajovic in the next round.
Wawrinka has lost for the fourth consecutive year and in eight of his twelve appearances in the first round in Basel.
“It’s never easy to lose a match like that, especially since I felt I played well for two sets. He is playing his best year. so far, he has improved his game a lot. He serves amazing and you don’t get many chances. Today I got my chances and I didn’t take them”, said Wawrinka
Kevin Anderson beat Croatian 18-year-old rising star Borna Coric (last year semifinalist in Basel) 6-3 6-2 in one hour to reach the second round of the Swiss Indoor Open in Basel where he will take on Donald Young. The South African player did not drop any of his service points and hit 29 winners, including 14 aces.
Marin Cilic, who won the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last week, beat local favourite Marco Chiudinelli 6-3 7-6 (7-3). The Croatian player dropped just four of his service points.
Jack Sock defeated lucky-loser Denis Kudla 6-4 6-2 setting up a second round against his compatriot John Isner. David Goffin rallied from a break down in the first set to beat Adrian Mannarino 6-4 6-3. Teymuraz Gabashvili overcame a second-set loss to edge Leonardo Mayer 7-5 4-6 6-4.
