Top seed Karlovic knocked out early.
Basilashvili uses quickness in victory
American Steve Johnson, the No. 4 seed at this week’s Memphis Open, recovered in convincing fashion Thursday to avoid being upset in second-round play at the ATP World Tour event at The Racquet Club.
Top seed Ivo Karlovic had no such luck orchestrating a comeback.
Karlovic, the 6-foot-11 Croat, never seriously challenged unseeded Nikoloz Basilashvili from Georgia (the country, not the state) after dropping a first-set tiebreaker. Basilashvili, who turns 25 next week, recorded a 7-6(2) 6-3 win in slightly more than an hour, easily using his quickness and shot-making to dismiss the 37-year-old Karlovic.
The upset represented the earliest exit for a No. 1 seed in Memphis since 2001 when Pete Sampras lost his secondround match to Chris Woodruff.
“It was difficult (coming from a Tour event in) Ecuador, which is high altitude,” Karlovic said. “It was different conditions completely. Over there, the ball was bouncing high. Over here it was different. It was a difficult match for me.”
Karlovic, the world’s 20thranked player, lost an opening tournament match for the second straight week. He was beaten in three tie-break sets by Victor Estrella Burgos at the Ecuador Open in Quito, Ecuador. Against Basilashvili, Karlovic never found a rhythm with his serve (only nine aces with five double faults). He also didn’t win any of 37 first-return points and only 9 of 58 (16 percent) overall.
“He was hitting a really hard ball and every (shot) was in,” Karlovic said. “He was playing really well. He didn’t make almost (any) mistakes. For me, on the other hand, I was struggling with the rest of my game. I didn’t really have a good feel for the ball and this is the outcome.”
Basilashvili entered this week’s Memphis Open with an abundance of confidence following a run to the semifinals of last week’s Sofia (Bulgaria) Open. En route to semis, he recorded a win over Dominic Thiem, the world’s eighth-ranked player.
“I think I’m playing, in general, really well, the last couple of tournaments,” Basilashvili said. “Coming here I was in really good shape physically and mentally as well.”
Basilashvili, ranked a career-best 67th, hadn’t beaten Karlovic in two previous meetings, but extended him to three sets in their last match two years ago in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Beating a player like Karlovic is fantastic for me and gives me confidence for the next match,” Basilashvili said. “I played him twice and practiced with him a couple of times. His serving is obviously unbelievable. I was able to stay focused the whole match.”
Basilashvili improved to 8-3 this year and is convinced his increased fitness work is contributing to the strong start.
“That’s where the confidence comes from, I know I can beat a lot of good players,” he said. “These courts really suit me, I like playing here. The court is a little bit slow for him — it was difficult (for him). On faster courts his serve is un-returnable.”
As for Johnson, he found himself down a set and a break in his secondround match against qualifer Tim Smycek. After watching Smyczek’s return winner sail past him for a 3-1 second-set lead, Johnson took out his frustrations, first on the RS Black Edition tennis ball, which he blasted into the Stadium Court’s rafters and then on Smyczek.
Johnson promptly broke back to begin a stretch in which he won 10 of the next 12 games, a recovery that propelled him into the quarterfinals with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Johnson, a two-time NCAA singles champion at the University of Southern California, closed the match by taking a short ball and ripping a forehand winner down the line.
“I wasn’t executing my game plan, so I had to go to Plan B, Plan C, Plan D,” Johnson said. “I had to find a way.”
“Luckily, I was able to break right back (after falling behind 3-1 in the second set), so the momentum (for Smyczek) didn’t quite build as much as he would have liked. Then I kind of got lucky to play well late in the second and early in the third.”
Smyczek, who eliminated rising American teenager Frances Tiafoe in the first round, had enjoyed success against Johnson, winning each of their three meetings at Challenger-level (a level below the ATP World Tour) events in 2013 and ‘14.
“Tim can strike the ball as well as anybody, both sides,” Johnson said. “He’s a clean hitter. I’ve hit with him a ton. I think we’ve played once on the ATP Tour, but I think he’s beaten me four or five times on the Challenger Tour.”
Johnson is coming off a year in which he won his first Tour event. His success last year, coupled with a Top 30 world ranking, is providing confidence for him and serving as a bit of intimidation for some opponents.
“I’ve always felt like I could win a title and now I feel I will win titles,” Johnson said. “To win your first gives you the belief that you can. Every week before that I walked into a tournament knowing I had a chance to win. And now maybe that level of belief is just a little bit higher.”
FRITZ ELIMINATED: Nineteenyear-old American Taylor Fritz, last year’s Memphis Open runnerup, fell to Australian Matthew Ebden, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in another secondround match. Fritz nearly recovered from a 4-1 deficit in the final set, but failed to convert two breakpoint chances in the eighth game that would have tied the set at 4-all.
Ebden has recovered from arthroscopic that surgery on his left knee that kept him off the Tour for seven months last year. Ebden qualified over the weekend and defeated another qualifier, Peter Polansky, in the opening round. Because of his injury, Ebden’s ranking has plummented to 490 in the world. His career-high ranking was 61 in 2012.
IN OTHER SECOND-ROUND PLAY: Qualifier Darian King of Barbados upset No. 5 seed Bernard Tomic in the opening round for his first ATP Tour-level match win, but couldn’t follow with another. King dropped a 6-3, 6-0 decision to Mikhail Kukushkin, losing the final eight games.
NOT A FAN: Johnson has been among the most vocal of the players expressing his displeasure with the tournament’s use of the RS Black Edition tennis ball. The Memphis Open has been using the tennis ball produced by former Tour player Robin Soderling for two years.
“They are awful,” Johnson said. “They’re the worst balls I’ve ever played with. That’s my opinion. I’m sure other guys would maybe differ from me. I don’t know if I’ll ever another tournament again with the Soderling balls.