Roger v Ivo - a rivalry for the ages

The final scheduled match on a stacked 2-match program on Rod Laver Arena featured the match we had waited for since day one. Roger Federer versus Ivo Karlovic. These two have had such a wonderful tussle over the years, and the score is pretty even with Roger winning 5 and Federer winning 4 of the 10 matches between them. Ivo has defeated Roger by 9 inches each time they have played, and it was the Wimbledon quarter finals in 2009 that last saw the Croatian wield his height advantage. Of course Federer went on to complete the French Open/Wimbledon double that year. Revenge today would have been a long coming and so much sweeter for Ivo, but then fantasy can be many things.

Any match involving Karlovic revolves around the serve, and more specifically the ability of his opponent to return sufficiently well. Roger to win needed to bring a solid service game of his own, and his superior ability to return should then enable him to break through the defence of Karlovic enough times to win the match. Conceivably, it could be a series of tie breaks and no service breaks whatsoever.

Set one exemplified the latter scenario to the letter. Both players dominated on serve and 6 games all surprised no one. The tie break had a few twists - initially the advantage with Ivo 2-0 before Roger came back and points went to the server until 5-5. Here, Roger hit one long and Ivo had set point on his racquet. It was saved dramatically by Roger before a slashing return set up Roger's first set point which he dutifully converted for 7-6 (8 points to 6 in the breaker)

Service breaks still failed to occur in set two, although there were a number of close calls from both players. Bottom line though, another eleven games went by and Ivo Karlovic had the responsibility of serving the set into a tie break. He had chances, but he also provided Roger with set points, and ultimately, the Croatian buckled under the third seed's will to succeed, and the twelfth game was Swiss, and the set too 7-5.

The story of Federer's stellar career had been played out yet again on Rod Laver Arena - when called upon for the big points and vital games he is the man on whom to rely. Two sets to love up could just as easily been the reverse, but only if Roger's opponent had been a Djokovic or the like. Karlovic could not play the role of closer in this class.

One more break of serve came before the end in set three, and it didn't surprise that it came at the hands and racquet of Roger Federer. The shot to confirm the break was one of the shots of the match, an impossible backhand which could never find its way into court but somehow did as it passed by the stunned and saddened Karlovic. Roger won the match by holding his seventeenth service game from seventeen tries.

Federer 7-6 7-5 6-3