Ivo Karlovic the giant from Croatia, caused a sensational upset in Doha, as he toppled World No1 Novak Djokovic. The ace machine coped better in the windy conditions, to outlast the Serbian in 3 tight sets. Novak’s early loss follows Rafael Nadal’s first round exit, earlier on Tuesday. Over in Brisbane, a rusty Roger Federer stumbled through his season opener, over home hope John Millman. Federer lost the opening set and was a break down in the 2nd, before he came back and wrestled the match from the Aussie. Meanwhile in the women’s draw, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic edged closer to a blockbuster final. Sharapova cruised past Carla Suarez-Navarro in a straight setter, whilst Ivanovic needed 3 sets to see off 2012 champion Kaia Kanepi. Finally in Auckland, Venus and Caroline moved within 1 match of a dream Final, as both overcame their QF opponents in 2 sets.
ATP Doha: Day 4 Thu, QFs
Karlovic bt Djokovic: 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
Whenever you play a giant and a pretty tall one at that, you know you’ll face a constant barrage of powerful aces.
That’s exactly the annoyance that Novak Djokovic faced against Ivo Karlovic and the added addition of blustery winds, didn’t;t help at all.
A sure-fire tie-break is also another thing you know you’ll get, when playing Karlovic. Djokovic got exactly got that in the opening set and he comfortably won the breaker by 7-2.
A 2nd tie-break against the Giant from Croatia, is yet another inevitability. Djokovic was mere points away from winning it in 2, but Karlovic managed to prevail in a tight, tense one, taking it 8-6.
Then at 3-3 in the deciding, Karlovic piled on the pressure and Djokovic crumbled. With the break, Karlovic held his serve to go up 5-3, before Novak forced his opponent to serve it out, by holding his own serve.
Karlovic didn’t hesitate and was soon celebrating his huge, first ever win against the Serbian Ironman- 6-4.
QF results:
Ferrer bt Brown: 6-2, 6-2
Berdych bt Gasquet: 6-2, 6-1
Seppi bt Dodig: 7-5, 6-4
ATP/WTA Brisbane: Thu
Day 4, MS 2nd rd:
Federer bt John Millman (AUS): 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
They say as you get older, you’re more prone to making more mistakes and losing your concentration quicker.
Well that seemed to be the case for the evergreen 17 times GS Champion, Roger Federer.
Playing his opening match of 2015 in Brisbane, a clearly rusty Roger, was not his usual self against Australia’s John Millman.
Millman to his credit, was playing way past his ranking of 153. What’s more is that, the 25 year old has only ever a staggering 3 matches his whole professional career.
An uncharacteristic 38 unforced errors, mostly in the first set, saw Federer go down 6-4 3-1. Already a break down in the 2nd, Federer soon found his inner-groove and put an end to Millman’s short cameo.
Federer then storming back to win in 3, by taking the sets 6-4 and 6-3
2nd rd results-
Groth bt Kubot: 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3)
Raonic bt Kukushkin: 6-3, 6-4
J Duckworth (AUS) bt Niemenen: 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
Day 5, WS QFs
Ivanovic bt Kanepi: 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and Sharapova bt Suarez-Navarro: 6-1, 6-3
In the searing Brisbane heat, Ana Ivanovic somehow battled past Estonian Kaia Kanepi and book her place in the last 4.
The former World 1 lost a tight opener by 6-4, before Ana responded by taking the 2nd by the exact same score-line.
Ivanovic then got the vital break against the 2012 Winner and held on to record a 6-3 final set win.
It was the complete opposite however for World No2 Maria Sharapova.
Sharapova was in cruise-control for the whole match. Never letting up against Carla Suarez-Navarro, she claimed the first set handily, by 6-1.
The Spaniard was understandably overpowered and rattled and Maria put the final nail in the coffin, by easing to victory: 6-3
QF results:
Svitolina bt Kerber: 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
Lepchenko bt Kudryavtseva: 7-5, 7-5
WTA Auckland: Day 4, QFs
Venus bt Vesnina: 6-2, 6-4 and Wozniacki bt Goerges: 6-4, 6-4
Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki remained on course for a collision in the final, with overcoming spirited opponents in the QFs.
Firstly Wozniacki was up against German Julia Goerges, who she’d lost to in 3 out of the last 4 meetings.
But ever the resilient, Wozniacki played dogged tennis and twice came back from a break down, to eventually win it 6-4, 6-4.
It was more straightforward for 34 year old Venus Williams, in her match with Russia’s Elena Vesnina.
Coming into it, Venus had won the pair’s last match, but still had a losing 2-1 h2h record.
Vesnina was no match for the legendary American in the first set though, as Venus raced to the opener by 6-2.
Vesnina was a lot more competitive in the 2nd, breaking Venus to go up 4-2.
But Venus the champion that she is, rallied and won the next 4 games in a row. to close it out 6-4
QF results:
Davis bt U Radwanska: 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
Zahlavova Strycova bt Vandeweghe: 6-4, 7-5
All Things Tennis- from Hamza Shakeel 