Ivo Karlovic and Kevin Anderson Smashing Aces at ATP Pune 2019
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

The lesser watched ATP 250 this week is India’s only ATP tournament on hard courts in Pune. Big servers are finding success so far with Kevin Anderson and Ivo Karlovic into the quarterfinals. What does the rest of the week hold?

Quarters

Kevin Anderson vs Jaume Munar

Tournament favorite Kevin Anderson continued his good form in exhibition play defeating Laslo Djere in straights in his opening match. Jaume Munar has impressed with wins against Radu Albot and Simone Bolelli but Anderson is the heavy favorite here and should dominate Munar.

Gilles Simon vs Benoit Paire

Defending champion Simon will be favored against his countryman Paire, despite dropping a set against Ilya Ivashka in his first match. Paire already has wins against Thiago Monteiro and Jiri Vesely. The h2h favors Simon 5-3 and he has points to defend here. Simon should grind past Paire.

Steve Darcis vs Malek Jaziri

Veterans Darcis and Jaziri will be happy to have quarterfinal appearances here. Darcis missed the 2018 season with a long term elbow injury, while Jaziri is playing some of the best tennis of his career at 34. Neither player has that many years on tour left and will cherish every opportunity to compete at a high level that they have left. Jaziri battled past Ramkumar Ramanathan, while Darcis has wins against Roberto Carballes Baena and Michael Mmoh. This should be a close match and Jaziri should be favored.

Ivo Karlovic vs Ernests Gulbis

Two players that are fun to watch, the big server Karlovic is 39 and has never defeated Gulbis. However, he upset Felix Auger Aliassime and also defeated Evgeny Donskoy to reach this stage. Gulbis upset Hyeon Chung in round 2 after defeating Pedro Sousa in round 1. A perennial underachiever, when Gulbis finds form he’s a threat at any tournament. Karlovic has lost all but his serve at this point and Gulbis should find a way to win

Semis
Anderson d. Simon
Gulbis d. Jaziri

This is Kevin Anderson’s tournament to lose, but keep an eye out for Gulbis and Simon. Jaziri is also seeking his first ATP title.

Final
Anderson d. Gulbis