A huge-serving affair is on tap for Newport, where Ivo Karlovic and Gilles Muller will battle for the title on Sunday. On the clay courts of Hamburg, meanwhile, it is all coming down to Pablo Cuevas and Martin Klizan.
Newport: (3) Gilles Muller vs. (2) Ivo Karlovic
Karlovic and Muller will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers at the ATP level and for the second time during this grass-court season when they collide in the final of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Sunday. The two big-serving veterans just faced each other in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where Muller prevailed 7-6(5), 7-6(4) to punch a ticket to the title match–which he lost to Nicolas Mahut. Thus the 33-year-old is still without a winner’s trophy for his entire ATP career (0-4 lifetime in finals). Muller, ranked 39th in the world, has given himself another opportunity this week thanks to victories over Victor Estrella Burgos, Adrian Mannarino, and Donald Young.
Karlovic registers one spot ahead of Muller in the rankings at No. 38. The 6’11” Croat is bidding for his seventh career title and first of 2016; it would mark his third on grass, following a pair of triumphs in Nottingham (2007 and 2008). Karlovic suffered a disappointing second-round loss at Wimbledon to Lukas Lacko, but he is back in business with Newport defeats of Frank Dancevic, Marco Chiudinelli, and Marcos Baghdatis. The 37-year-old never broke Baghdatis on Saturday, but he generated an impressive eight chances. Not too surprisingly, there was not a single break and not even a break point in last month’s Karlovic-Muller showdown. This, of course, will also come down to just a few critical points–and in those moments a slight edge may go to Karlovic given his title-winning experience and a serve that is even scarier than that of Muller.
Pick: Karlovic in 3
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Hamburg: (3) Pablo Cuevas vs. (7) Martin Klizan
Heading into Sunday’s final at the German Tennis Championships, Klizan’s last nine ATP-level wins have come at 500-point tournaments. He has not won a match at an ATP event worth something other than 500 points since February 5. The Rotterdam champion finds himself in another title match thanks to victories this week at the expense of Igor Sijsling, Louis Wessels, Daniel Gimeno-Traver, and Stephane Robert.
Next up for the 47th-ranked Slovak on Sunday is a first-ever ATP-level encounter with Cuevas. They squared off two years ago on the clay courts of the Barranquilla Challenger (also in a final), with Cuevas cruising 6-3, 6-1. The 24th-ranked Uruguayan already owns two ATP titles this year, giving him five for his career. As one might expect, all five of Cuevas’ titles have come on the red stuff. He is one win away from another triumph following straight-set wins in Hamburg over Florian Mayer, Thiago Monteiro, Paul-Henri Mathieu, and Renzo Olivo. Cuevas has been the best player this entire week and there is no reason to think that will change against Klizan.
Pick: Cuevas in 2
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