Juan Martin Del Potro will continue his Stockholm campaign when he takes the court against Ivo Karlovic on Friday. Grigor Dimitrov and Kevin Anderson are also aiming for a place in the semifinals.
(WC) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (3) Ivo Karlovic
It could be a preview of the upcoming Davis Cup final when Karlovic and Del Potro collide in the quarterfinals of the If Stockholm Open on Friday. They have faced each other on four previous occasions, none of which has come in the last four years. Del Potro leads the head-to-head series 3-1 and 1-0 on hard courts (via a 7-5, 6-4 decision at the 2012 Miami Masters). The two veterans most recently squared off in a 2012 Davis Cup quarterfinal tie on the clay courts of Argentina, where Del Potro got the job done 6-2, 7-6(7), 6-1. Karlovic’s lone victory came on the grass of Nottingham in 2007, when he prevailed 7-6(10), 7-5.
Both players have been nominated for the 2016 ATP Comeback Player of the Year Award. Del Potro, who missed all of 2015 aside from two tournaments, is up to No. 63 in the world thanks in part to a quarterfinal run at the U.S. Open, a third-round showing at Wimbledon, and semifinal finishes in Delray Beach in Stuttgart. He also won the gold medal at the Rio Olympics and has led Argentina to the Davis Cup final. Due mostly to a foot injury, Karlovic did not win a single match this season until April 28. Thanks to an awesome summer, however, the 6’11” Croat registers at 21st in the rankings. In the span of five weeks he captured titles in Newport and Los Cabos while finishing runner-up in Washington, D.C. Karlovic booked his spot in the last eight this week by scraping past Mikael Ymer 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday; Del Potro has advanced with straight-set wins over John Isner and Nicolas Almagro. Given Del Potro’s current form, Karlovic won’t be able to get away with the 66 percent serving and nine double-faults he turned in against Ymer.
Pick: Del Potro in 2
[polldaddy poll=9557151]
Kevin Anderson vs. (2) Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov and Anderson will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers on Friday. The head-to-head series stands at 5-1 in favor of Dimitrov, who has won two of their three hard-court encounters. They have not met since 2014, when the Bulgarian picked up both of his hard-court victories; 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(5) in the Acapulco title match and 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(6) in the Rogers Cup quarterfinals. Dimitrov started this season slow but has picked up the pace in a major way dating back to the start of the North American summer swing. The world No. 18 reached the Toronto quarters, the Cincinnati semis, the U.S. Open fourth round, the Chengdu semis, the Beijing final, and he opened this week with a 6-3,6-2 rout of Jurgen Zopp on Thursday.
Anderson also advanced to the Toronto quarterfinals, but his 2016 has otherwise been an injury-plagued struggle. The 6’8” South African is down at 48th in the rankings and saddled with a losing record for the year (17-19). So far in Stockholm he has defeated Marcos Baghdatis and Ryan Harrison. A relatively steep step up in competition should see Anderson’s week come to an end at the hands of an opponent who has been one of his nemeses.
Pick: Dimitrov in 2
[polldaddy poll=9556859]
WWW?
Dimitrov in two and Del Po in three
Vamos Delpo!