Ivo Karlovic and Ernests Gulbis will kick off their Vienna campaigns on Monday. They are set for respective openers against Andreas Seppi and Lucas Miedler.
(7) Ivo Karlovic vs. Andreas Seppi
Karlovic and Seppi will be squaring off for the third time in their careers and for the first time in more than seven years when they clash in round one of the Erste Bank Open on Monday. The head-to-head series stands at 1-1; Seppi prevailed 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 on the clay courts of Barcelona in 2007 before Karlovic got revenge one season later with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory on the grass of Nottingham.
Both veterans are coming off third-set tiebreaker losses in Shanghai. Karlovic took out Jeremy Chardy before succumbing to Rafael Nadal 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(4). The 36-year-old Croat is 34-22 for the season and registers at 20th in the world. Seppi got bounced in the first round last week 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(2) by Steve Johnson. The 28th-ranked Italian is 0-2 since the U.S. Open and 3-7 in his last 10 matches. Current form heavily favors Karlovic, who should also have an edge on an indoor hard court.
Pick: Karlovic in 2
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Ernests Gulbis vs. (Q) Lucas Miedler
Gulbis showed signs of life with a quarterfinal run in Toronto this summer, but he has resorted back to his disastrous ways ever since that success. The Latvian is on a six-match losing streak and he just plummeted to No. 116 in the world to fall outside the top 100 for the first time since March of 2013. Gulbis retired in round one of the U.S. Open because of a wrist injury and his fall swing includes losses to Marcos Baghdatis and John Millman.
Up first for the former world No. 10 is Miedler, an Austrian qualifier who comes in at No. 522 in the rankings. Miedler got into the main draw by beating Riccardo Bellotti and Michael Berrer. The latter was a stellar win for the 19-year-old, who has been playing almost exclusively Futures events in Austria since the start of the summer. On paper Miedler is a huge underdog, but this is an awesome opportunity at home for the youngster–especially if Gulbis is still less than 100 percent.
Pick: Miedler in 3
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Karlovic in 2 and miedler in 3.
good picks
Gulbis and Karlovic
Thoughts on ferrer vs ramos vinolas??
Ferrer 6-3, 6-3
Lucas Miedler took the second set against Ernest Gulbis 6 -2.
Gulbis won the 1st set 6-3.
E.Gulbis defeated L.Miedler 6-3, 2 -6, 6 -3.
good upset win for Gulbis
??hahha
you picked someone ranked 522 to beat Gulbis?
You didnt? Its pretty obvious that Miedler should have won. Just got nervous at the end.
Gulbis has been dreadful this year but I have never heard the name Lucas Miedler before.
not having heard of someone before is no reason to pick Gulbis to win….
I’m not giving up on Gulbis….yet!!!!!