Ben Becker takes on a resurgent Ivo Karlovic in the first round of the US Men's Clay-Court Championships in Houston today.
Karlovic spent much of 2010 on the sidelines with injury and after seven months out of the game it took the big Croatian a while to find his feet when he returned to the tour at the start of this year. With a ranking which has plummeted outside the world's top 200, Karlovic badly needed a strong showing in one of last month's Masters Series events and he hit form in the desert, powering his way to the Indian Wells quarter-finals.
Scoring wins over David Ferrer and Gilles Simon, Karlovic then proceeded to push Rafa Nadal all the way, going down in a third set tiebreak.
However, clay has never been his favourite surface. Opponents still find his serve tough to deal with and as the courts in Houston are quicker than the European variety he may cause a few surprises, but he can be dragged into more baseline rallies where players can expose his limited movement.
The good news for Karlovic is that Becker hates the red stuff as well and the German's 2011 has been distinctly average to date.
Not only that but Karlovic leads their head-to-head 5-0, beating him 7-5, 7-6 in Houston four years ago.
Prediction: Karlovic in two
