Youzhny – Karlovic

High profile encounter in the first round at Halle, with Mikhail Youzhny taking on the big serving croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Youzhny had an extremely poor season so far by his standards, posting a horrible 7-10 win-loss record and winning consecutive matches just twice in 6 months. The Russian is on the back of a 4 set loss against Stepanek in Roland Garros, a match in which he showed some dreadful tennis: slow, tired, unmotivated and unable to sustain rallies lasting longer than 3-4 shots. The good news for Youzhny is that the grass court season is here, and he is very capable on the surface, but he needs to sort out his form before expecting any results. The Russian reached the final here at Halle last year, so he has a ton of points to defend and will be very motivated.

Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle.

Karlovic, at 35 years old, is playing some of the best tennis of his life. The Croatian reached 2 finals this year (both lost), his serve is unreturnable lately and he had a surprisingly good clay court season, including reaching the Roland Garros 3rd round (def. Dimitrov, Haider Maurer), but he had to retire after the first set against Anderson due to some back pains. Reports say he`s fine for today, and surely he will retire if he feels the slightest discomfort, as nobody would risk anything prior to Wimbledon.

The H2H is 3-0, all matches were played on hard, the last one in 2012. Youzhny had surprisingly good results against Karlovic considering he`s not the best returner, but on the other hand the last two matches in the H2H were extremely close and Karlovic should have actually won the last one.

Youzhny’s odds are so low because of Karlovic’s injury in Roland Garros, but, as previously stated, there`s little to no danger that he won`t be at his best level. It was just some pain, and now he`s ready for the grass court season. Both players are very solid on the surface but the Croatian is by far in superior form and playing better tennis, so that should make the difference. Expect Ivo to easily hold his serve and take advantage of the opportunities that will arise on Youzhny’s serve – there will be some, because the Russian is making a ton of unforced errors and has the habbit of beating himself this year. My tip is Karlovic to win and I will stake 8 units on this bet. Prediction: Mikhail Youzhny – Ivo Karlovic 6-7 4-6.

Pick: Karlovic
Odds: 2.14 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 9.12
Event date: 10 June