Tennis
2009-06-26 - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs Ivo Karlovic
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga received a bye in the last round when his opponent, Simone Bolelli, withdrew from the tournament with a back injury.
This could be the break he needs as he looks to go deep in a tournament where his ability should be able to shine and a potential Quarter Final with Roger Federer will loom large if he can pass this big test in Karlovic.
Tsonga will need to improve his service game to ensure he does not give Karlovic break point opportunities as one break can see the end of the set very quickly. He will also be hoping to up his returning game as he will only be presented with a few chances off the Karlovic serve.
Ivo Karlovic
Ivo Karlovic continued his impressive form on his own serve in the match with Steve Darcis in the last round. He won an incredible 83% of the points behind his serve and served 70% first serves. As would be expected from statistics like that, he did not face a break point in the match.
He won 36% of the points behind the Darcis serve and converted 3 breaks of serve from the 10 opportunities that were presented to him.
An interesting statistic to make note of is that he attacked the net on 43 occasions but only managed to win 56% of the points when he did. This is something that Tsonga will look to take advantage of.
Head to Head
These 2 players have only met on 1 previous occasion but that was on a grass court in Surbiton 2 years ago. Tsonga at that time was having to travel between Surbiton and Queens Club in London as he was attempting to qualify for the latter as he took part in the former.
On that occasion Tsonga won 6-3, 7-6
Prediction
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will have to serve well as I mentioned but will also need to take full advantage of any chances that may be presented to him. He has the game to win this match and will attack the net as much as Karlovic.
Ivo Karlovic needs to serve big as he usually does, but it will be interesting how he handles the big serve coming back at him. He has been able to dictate matches by attacking his previous opponents' serves, but he will find it harder to do that to Tsonga. This may just create extra pressure on him to keep holding his own serve, especially if he is serving 2nd.
I like the fact that Tsonga has faced the Karlovic serve on this surface previously and I feel this gives him an edge. This match will be close, there will be tie breaks, but I can see Tsonga finding a couple of crucial breaks of serve also as the match moves into a 4th and possibly 5th set which will carry him through.
Tsonga to win 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4
The Pick :
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
