Does anyone every get tired of Ivo Karlovic, the well-traveled, 34-year old, 6-foot-10 Croatian with the atomic serve? Karlovic has overcome serious obstacles in his career, including numerous injuries and a speech impediment, which is one reason he’s so popular. But he’s not very popular with 17-year old Muscovite and wild card, Karen Khachanov. Karlovic ruined the kid in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-0.
Ahead for Karlovic lies top-seeded Richard Gasquet, who will be a tough nut to crack because he and countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are both trying to overtake Roger Federer in the race for the eight and final place in the ATP World Tour finals. Gasquet eliminated local hero, 28-year-old wild card Teymuraz Gabashvili, a Georgian who lives in Moscow. Why is it that the Russians do so well at this tournament?
In the bottom half, Mikhail Kukushkin took care of Andrey Golubev in a battle of the qualifiers. Interestingly, both men are Russians living in Kazakhstan — immigrants who left talent-laden Russia to capitalize on opportunities in Kazakhstan. ATP No. 102 Kukushkin has been on the Challenger circuit most of this year. The Volgograd native has to be thrilled to be in the semis of an ATP 250 in his homeland.
Kukushkin will match wits with No. 2 seed and defending champion. . . you’ll have to scroll down to read his name . . . who advanced when Edouard Roger-Vasselin quit with an injury while trailing 5-2 in their semifinal.
MOSCOW, WTA:
Continuing the theme, two Russian women are in the semifinals and the good news for locals is that they don’t have to play each other. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, an off-again, on-again talent, appears to be on-again. She knocked off countrywoman Maria Kirilenko in the first round and most recently crushed Daniela Hantuchova (love-and-four) to make the weekend cut. She’ll play No. 5 seed Simona Halep, who eliminated yet another Russian in the quarters, Alisa Kleybanova.
Halep has been a real revelation this year; the hard-hitting 22-year old Romanian won four tournaments, including New Haven, starting in early June — just weeks after she reached the final in Rome (l. to Serena Williams). This could be the upset special of the weekend.
And guess who’s through to the semis down below in the draw? Our old friend, free-spirited two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. She took care of No. 2 seed Roberta Vinci, giving up just five games, and will now meet the victor over Ana Ivanovic, No. 7 seed Sam Stosur. Once again, Stosur is showing signs of life just when everyone has written her off as dead. Talk about not being able to handle pressure. . .
VIENNA, ATP