Sijsling crashes against Karlovic in two tiebreaks

For Igor Sijsling the Ricoh Open is finished. The player from Amsterdam lost out in a service battle to third seed Ivo Karlovic (ATP-28): 7-6(4), 7-6(5). With this result the home player failed to equal his best performance in Rosmalen, a place in the quarter-finals.

Three times Sijsling took the lead at 15-30 in the first set, but could not force a breakpoint. In the tiebreak

Holland’s number two was bombarded with backhand slices and a vigorous service volley action, after which the Kroatian served the set out at 5-4.

At 1-1 in the second set Karlovic produced a game of four consecutive aces, but two games later Sijsling created the match’s only break chance. Karlovic polished out this possibility with an ace.

The players again ended up in a tiebreak, in which Sijsling gave away one service point with too long a volley. At 6-5 Karlovic finished the match with his 20th ace.

Last year Karlovic lost to Robin Haase in the quarter-final in a tiebreak in the deciding set. To reach the last four this year, the service cannon must defeat Adrian Mannarino (ATP-55). The Frenchman defeated the Russian qualifier Daniil Medvedev (ATP-256). 6-4, 6-2.

Muller

Seventh seed Gilles Muller (ATP-44) has reached the quarter-final stage at the Autotron. The Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ATP-53) lost to the player from Luxembourg, 7-5, 6-1.

Topseed David Ferrer from Spain (ATP-14) or Israel’s Dudi Sela (ATP-68) will be Muller’s next opponent.