World No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s hopes of preparing for another Grand Slam bid with the 49th title of his career were shattered by giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic at a windswept Qatar Open on Thursday.
The 2.1m, 35-year-old Karlovic, the tallest and oldest player on the main tour, won 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 to make the semi-finals.
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic often appeared affected by the conditions, especially with his ground strokes, but they did not prevent Karlovic hammering down another 21 aces, making 67 for the tournament so far.
That took him to within 12 of Andy Roddick’s 9,074 aces, the second-highest ever. Djokovic was sufficiently exasperated to fling down his racquet in the second set and to sling it along the floor in the third, eventually settling for a smile and congratulations to Karlovic.
“I can’t say if it was surprising or not, but he served very well, but you could expect that,” Djokovic said. “I was coming into the match knowing that I will have very, very few chances. I was hoping that these conditions and the wind would kind of give me some second-serve opportunities, but it didn’t look this way.”
The most crucial moments came at 3-3 in the final set when Djokovic saved one break point with a serve, volley and smash combination, but then slipped to break point down again by mistiming an inside-out forehand drive into the net.
Once again he made a good attempt to prevent the service break, landing a good serve and making a deep volley from a decent forecourt position only for Karlovic to launch himself sideways and pull off his best shot of the match, a spectacular running forehand pass down the line.
“In these particular matches, one ball can decide a winner, and that was the case,” Djokovic said.
Karlovic will now try to reach only the 13th final of his long career when he faces David Ferrer in the semi-finals.
The tournament favorite is now Tomas Berdych, who outplayed Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-1.
“The conditions were not easy, but my plan to deal with the match worked well,” said the third-seeded Czech, who was to face Italy’s Andreas Seppi.
Seppi defeated Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 7-5, 6-4 in his quarter-final.
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