Vienna QF previews and picks: Ferrer vs. Fognini, Karlovic vs. Gulbis

Top-seeded David Ferrer will continue his Vienna campaign on Friday against Fabio Fognini. Ivo Karlovic and Ernests Gulbis are also aiming for a place in the semifinals.

(1) David Ferrer vs. (8) Fabio Fognini

One of the most lopsided “rivalries” on the ATP Tour will add another chapter when Ferrer and Fognini square off for the ninth time in their careers during quarterfinal action at the Erste Bank Open on Friday. Ferrer is dominating the head-to-head series 8-0, including 17-2 in total sets. Only one of the Spaniard’s 17 victorious sets has required a tiebreaker. The two outstanding baseline players have met once in 2015, when Ferrer cruised 6-2, 6-3 in the final of a clay-court event in Rio de Janeiro.

A hard court should actually give Fognini a better chance–something that no one could have said earlier this season. The 22nd-ranked Italian did not win a single match on this surface from January through late August, but he suddenly turned things around at the U.S. Open. A fourth-round performer in New York mainly thanks to a five-set stunner over Rafael Nadal, Fognini boasts 11 hard-court wins following Vienna defeats of Paul-Henri Mathieu and Radek Stepanek. An inspired and in-form Ferrer has continued his trek to the World Tour Finals by taking out countrymen Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The world No. 8 has shown no reason to suggest that this is the time and place where Fognini will turned the tide of the head-to-head history.

Pick: Ferrer in 2

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(7) Ivo Karlovic vs. Ernests Gulbis

Gulbis will play consecutive matches against arguably the two biggest servers on tour when he completes the John Isner-Karlovic double in Vienna. The 117th-ranked Latvian improved to 3-2 lifetime against Isner by taking down the American 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on Tuesday. Gulbis preceded that upset by scraping past Austrian qualifier Lucas Miedler 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Sudden strong play has come from out of nowhere for the former world No. 10, who is still a horrendous 11-22 at the ATP level in 2015.

This will be just the second career meeting between Gulbis and Karlovic. They previously faced each other in the 2010 Delray Beach final, with Gulbis triumphing 6-2, 6-3. Current form, however, heavily favors Karlovic. The 36-year-old Croat is is up to No. 20 in the world and he is 36-22 for the season following Vienna victories over Andreas Seppi and Sergiy Stakhovsky. Gulbis generally fares well against huge servers, but he is too inconsistent to hold his own serve every time he toes the line–which is what may be required to beat Karlovic. Moreover, the seventh seed’s all-court game has greatly improved since their last encounter.

Pick: Karlovic in 3

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