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Australian Nick Kyrgios will take on the big serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the third round at the Masters event in Cincinnati.
Nick Kyrgios has been hampered by injuries lately, retiring in two consecutive matches before playing at Montreal last week – when he again seemed troubled by injury in his second round loss to Alex Zverev. Nevertheless, the Australian seemed fit and healthy this week in Cincy, claiming easy two set wins against Goffin and Dolgopolov to set up this meeting with Ivo Karlovic.
Big Ivo didn`t have much success lately, losing 5 of his last 6 matches before Cincinnati, but managed to increase his level this week, putting together two solid wins against Vesely (6-3 3-6 7-5) and Tsonga (6-4 7-6) – albeit he was a little lucky to escape with that two set win against the Frenchman, converting his only break point and saving set points in the second set.
Bet on Kyrgios vs. Karlovic and claim your 100% (100 Eur) freebet at Ohmbet now!Kyrgios leads the H2H 3-0 (all meetings on hard), but each of the three matches was very close, so you can`t really say Nick has a matchup advantage here.
Both players hold massive serves, so it`s no surprise that 4 of the last 5 sets they played against eachother have ended in a tiebreak. Tiebreaks should be a common occurence again, as both players are in good form this week and are serving exceptionally.
Karlovic has faced only 3 break points in this tournaments, being broken a single time, while Kyrgios also suffered a single break of serve.
I can see both players starting strong on serve, focusing on their first ball in the start of the match in order not to fall behind early. Considering both guys are massive servers, taking into account the H2H and also the fast surface at Cincinnati (which favors big servers), I reckon a first set tiebreak has high chances to occur here.
Obviously this kind of bet is always a bit of a gamble, but I think chances for it to win are much higher than odds suggest. My tip is a first set tiebreak to occur. Prediction: Nick Kyrgios – Ivo Karlovic 7-6 6-7 6-4.
Pick: First set tiebreak – Yes
Odds: 1.91 @ Betfair Sportsbook
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 6.37
Event date: 17 August
