Ivo Karlovic and Ernests Gulbis will try to continue their already somewhat surprising runs in Pune when they collide in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Fellow Frenchmen Gilles Simon and Benoit Paire are also in action.
Ernests Gulbis vs. Ivo Karlovic
This might be the most interesting match between a world No. 95 and a world No. 100 in the history of the sport. Karlovic, the towering Croat, is still serving away in the twilight of his career. The 39 year-old turned pro way back in 2000, and won titles as recently as 2016. He spends most of his time on the Challenger circuit or attempting to qualify for tournaments, but he can still deliver monster serves from his nearly 7 foot frame. He dispatched young Canadian hopeful Felix Auger-Aliassime and Evgeny Donskoy to advance to the quarters this week.
Gulbis is ranked just five spots below Karlovic, his ranking points for the 2018 season earned almost entirely on the strength of a bizarre but impressive run from the qualies in Stockholm to the finals, where he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Latvian defeated Pedro Sousa in the first round this week, and upset the No. 2 seed, Hyeon Chung in the second.
Gulbis holds a 3-0 record over Karlovic. With the Latvian in apparent good form this week, he should add a fourth victory to his head-to-head.
Prediction: Gulbis in 2 tight sets.
(3) Gilles Simon vs. (5) Benoit Paire
Pune will feature a familiar battle of the Frenchmen as Simon and Paire take to the court for the ninth time on Thursday. Tour veteran Simon in the defending champion in Pune; the world No. 30 also captured the title in Metz, making 2018 his most successful season in at least three years.
Ranked 52nd in the world, Paire was not quite as successful in 2018 – he even made a few appearances on the Challenger circuit. He hasn’t enjoyed near the success of Simon, with just one career title to his name (Bastad in 2015). Still, he has at least fared somewhat decently against Simon–with a 3-5 record against his sometimes Davis Cup teammate.
Simon dropped in his Pune opener against Ilya Ivashka, the world No. 92 from Belarus, while Paire has skimmed through his two matches in straight sets.
Prediction: Simon in 3 long sets
Hi! A Happy New Year for all! I am excited, a new tennis season has already started. My favorite is Benoit Paire, his style show me the nice face of the tennis, not just a desperate running for money. I hope he will win today. And Ernst Gulbis is an extravagant tennis player, too, his career was very erratic.
Let”s enjoy the real beauty of tennis! 🙂
Gulbis lives!!!….though hard to believe…..I’ll take him in 2…and Simon in 2.
Gulbis lives…but to fight another day. Dr Ivo faces Darcis in the semi, so has a very good chance of making the final, where he will probably face Kando in a servers’ duel. Good luck to both!
I’ll never be able to properly predict whether Ernests Gulbis will win or not. haha.
tsame
That’s only fair. Clearly Gulbie has no clue either.