Federer topples Karlovic

Top ranked Roger Federer continued his relentless march toward a first title at the ATP Masters Series in Rome after overcoming the tour's tallest player, Ivo Karlovic, in straight sets 7-6(4) 6-3.

The Swiss at first struggled with Karlovic's big serve and failed to convert a few break points in the first set before prevailing in the tiebreak. Afterwards Federer appeared to pick up on his opponent's serve and began to relax, breaking the Croat's serve in the fifth game of the second set. He fittingly clinched victory on another break of serve.

Overall, Federer played an excellent match hitting 27 winners to just nine unforced errors. He also lost only a total of ten points on serve throughout the match. As expected Karlovic who towers over everyone else in the tour at 6'10" managed to fire twelve aces past the Federer but that ultimately wasn't of any help as he failed to get past the top seed.

Federer will next face Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic who earlier fought back to defeat qualifier Luis Horna 6-4 1-6 6-3.
Photo credit: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images