Gojowczyk – Karlovic

Reigning Champion and three time finalist Ivo Karlovic will take on Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk in the quarterfinals at ATP Newport.

Gojowczyk had a decent grass court season for his standards, posting a 9-4 win-loss record so far. Although most of his wins came in qualifiers against poor opposition, he did reach the second round at Stuttgart and Wimbledon, posting a few good wins against Copil, Basilashvili or Lacko. Here in Newport Gojowczyk played well, but not impressive. He defeated Kwiatkowski 2-0 but had problems in the next round against Kravchuk, winning 2-6 6-4 6-4.

Ivo Karlovic started the grass court season in style with a final at Hertogenbsoch, losing to red hot Gilles Muller, but lost his next two matches against Youzhny and Bedene. It was disappointing for Big Ivo to lose in the first round at Wimbledon against Bedene (2-3), but he bounced back strong here in Newport, a tournament which is tailor made for him. After a bye in the oppening round, Big Ivo defeated Kudla 6-4 6-4 on Wednesday.

Bet on Gojowczyk v Karlovic and claim your 100% (100 Eur) bonus at Ohmbet now!

Gojowczyk leads the H2H 2-1 and it could well be considered 2-0, as Karlovic’s win came in a semi-official meeting at the France Championships in 2014. Gojowczyk will definitely draw confidence from the H2H record, although none of the meetings were on grass.

Both players like grass, but the fast courts here and Newport do favor Karlovic and his huge serve. Big Ivo reached the last 3 finals here at Newport (!!) and finally won his first title last year (def. Muller), after previously losing to Ram and Hewitt.

Gojowczyk has played reasonably well this week, but he is not in any king of “zone”. He met modest opposition and had big problems against an out of form Kravchuk in the second round. The German alternated moments of very good tennis with unforced errors, and normally that will not be enough against Karlovic.

Big Ivo managed to defeat Kudla 6-4 6-4 despite getting just 45% of his first serves in, a percentage which is very dangerous for him. He didn`t play his best tennis, but he won the important points and was aggressive on the return. He is sure to serve better today against Gojowczyk, especially as he now has a match under his belt.

Karlovic is the favorite to win this tournament and it`s hard to see him blowing it against a mediocre opponent who is not necessarily in great form. Big Ivo is one of the guys who owned this tournament in the last few years, so I see him advancing here. Odds 1.40 might seem low, but for me they are satisfying. I wouldn`t have priced Ivo above 1.35, so I`m confident investing maximum stakes on this bet.

My tip is Karlovic to win. He should hold his serve throughout the match and put pressure on Gojowczyk’s serve at certain moments in the match. Pretty simple bet in my eyes, and hopefully it will go as planned. Prediction: Peter Gojowczyk – Ivo Karlovic 6-7 4-6.

Pick: Karlovic
Odds: 1.41 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 4.10
Event date: 20 July