Roger Federer was somewhat lucky to get through his first match in the Cincinnati Masters tournament the other day, as Robbie Ginepri served for the match in the second set before letting the #1-ranked player off the hook. Today, however, Ivo Karlovic prevented another escape, as his huge serves enabled him to hold on to a third set tiebreak and pull off the upset of Federer. The on-court temperature was above 110ยบ, and this clearly had a debilitating effect on the 6'10" Karlovic, but he wisely realized all the had to do was to keep banging in his serves in the third set to get to a tiebreak, and then take his chances there; in fact, Karlovic hardly contested Federer's service games. This stratagem paid off, as three unforced errors from the backcourt from the Swiss player's racket gave the #16 seed the win.
Watching the match, it was clear Roger is still lacking in confidence. He didn't play badly, but when things got tight at the end of the third set, he gave away points ordinarily you'd expect him to find a way to win.
It now appears that the #1 ranking in the men's game will change hands sooner rather than later, particularly if Rafael Nadal wins this week's Masters event, in which case he will appear atop the ATP rankings next Monday. Otherwise, at some point in the coming weeks, we can expect to see a changing of the guard.
