Vasek Pospisil vs. (2) John Isner
Isner will kick off his SAP Open campaign when he takes the court with Pospisil on Wednesday night. Their only previous meeting came a little more than a year ago in Vienna (also on an indoor hard court), where a typical Isner match transpired. After two breaks–one each–throughout the first two sets, the decider progressed to a prolonged tiebreaker and Pospisil eventually prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(9).
There is a great chance of another Pospisil victory, in part because the 22-year-old Canadian scored an impressive 7-5, 6-1 win over Evgeny Donskoy on Tuesday. Mainly, however, Isner is in dreadful form. The 6’9” American was forced out of the Australian Open with a knee injury and he has won a mere three matches since last summer’s U.S. Open. Unless Isner serves at no less than 65 percent and fires at least seven aces per set, Pospisil should advance.
Pick: Pospisil 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-4
Jesse Levine vs. (4) Tommy Haas
Levine and Haas will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers. All three of their previous encounters have come on hard courts and Haas has won all three in straight sets–at the 2008 Indianapolis event, one season later in Los Angeles, and again last fall in Vienna.
The 34-year-old German is struggling to heat up to his 2012 level, as he is a mere 1-2 this season. He has not played since a first-round loss to Jarkko Nieminen in Melbourne. An in-form Levine earned his fourth ATP match victory of the season on Monday by dismissing Bradley Klahn 7-5, 6-2. This could be tough for Haas, but he should get the job done in three sets.
Pick: Haas 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Ivo Karlovic vs. (WC) Steve Johnson
Not a single player stands in between Karlovic and Johnson in the ATP rankings. Karlovic registers at 155th in the world and Johnson comes in at a career-high of No. 154. To say they are heading in different directions, however, would be an understatement. The 33-year-old Croat has been hampered by a foot injury in recent seasons, but he at least managed to advance one round last week in Zagreb (beat Grigor Dimitrov before falling to Ivan Dodig).
Johnson is on the rise in his pro career after four awesome years of college at Southern California. The 23-year-old American won a marathon over Thanasi Kokkinakis en route to the Australian Open main draw before taking Nicolas Almagro to five sets. Both men in this matchup have huge serves and shaky returns, so breaks will be at a premium on Wednesday.
Pick: Johnson 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(5)
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