IT’S the stuff most sports movies are made of.

The heroine gets to the pinnacle of the sport, only to falter after off-court troubles.

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IVO Karlovic must be scratching his head after his first-round exit in the French Open.

He fired 55 aces and still lost in, 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3, to Leyton Hewitt.

Fifty-five aces, 55 points. That’s 13 games, and 40-love.

At 6’10”, or just an inch shorter than Greg Slaughter, Karlovic gets unbelievable angles with his serves.

But he still lost.

Consider this, Karlovic’s average speed in his second serve was 172 kph, just six shy of Hewitt’s average speed in his first serve.

“He gets up higher because he’s hitting so short in the boxes. The angle he gets, you can’t touch a lot of his serves. It’s physically impossible,” Hewitt said of his giant foe.

The two also met in the first round in Wimbledon in 2003. Hewitt, the defending champion, lost.

“I felt like I was a little unlucky…to play him on any surface, he’s so dangerous,” Hewitt told AP.

So far, things are doing well for my bets in the French Open.

Roger Federer was all business in his straight sets win against Alberto Marin, while Andy Roddick also won.

Not that I want Rafael Nadal to get embarrassed with a first-round exit, but for a while last Monday, I thought unknown Marcos Daniel could do what no man could after giving Rafa a scare in the first set.

However, that was just precisely that, a scare, and Nadal went on to win his record 29th straight match at Roland Garros.

And but of course, Maria Sharapova, also did quite well in the first round.

After losing the first set, she advanced easily by giving up just three games in the last two sets to Anastasiya Yakimova.

Maria (we’re on first name basis now), like Federer, only needs the French Open to complete a Career Grand Slam.

On the other hand, Dinara Safina, the current world No. 1, had the most dominating win in the first round with a 6-0, 6-0 wipeout of Anne Keothavong.

It was so lopsided that based on the match statistics, Keothavong only scored 33 points in the 61-minute match.

Of that 33, 24 was from Safina’s unforced errors, while another four was from the No. 1’s double faults.

Had Safina not made all those unforced errors, the match could have been finished in 30 minutes.

THE JINX CONTINUES. I guess if I want the LA Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers to meet in the NBA finals, I should stop watching them.

I only caught three games so far, it all ended in losses for my favorite teams. And of the three times that I didn’t watch, they won.

I saw Games 1 and 3 of the East finals and Game 2 of the West.

DONNIE’S INSULT. Donnie Nietes, like Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire and Brian Viloria is a world champion.

ABS-CBN should be bending its back to help promote a Nietes fight.

Instead, Nietes, not only get snubbed, he gets the ultimate insult.

ABS-CBN wants to pair him with Rommel Asenjo as part of the ALA Boys vs. Braveheart Boxing Club fight the broadcast giant wants to push.

Who is Asenjo? He’s a nobody.

The broadcast giant said pitting prospect Pinoys against prospect Pinoys is good for Philippine boxing.

Well, pitting Nietes against another tough world-class foe in a title defense is also good for boxing.

Perhaps this is the case of showbiz’s penchant for pitting stars against starlets spilling over to boxing.

LAST ROUND. I’m borrowing Jingo Quijano’s signature words to end this column and the Last Round is on Michael Jerome Templado Limpag, who’s turning 30 today. I wanted to write more about this swell dude but since we are closely related, I can’t.

He told me, though, that anyone who shows up with this column can get in to his wild Meet the Roaring 30s party at Macademia St., Lantana Subdivision, Polomolok, South Cotabato tonight.

FOR some strange reason, I have always taken a liking for the LA Clippers.

Back when I started paying attention to the NBA in high school, the Clippers was the second team in my priority list of NBA teams to cheer. The first, of course, was Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
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HOURS after AJ Banal won his comeback fight at the Cebu Coliseum, I browsed Mannypacquiao.ph and was jolted by an ad for a fight, “Banal na Paghihiganti” and saw the familiar face of Rafael Concepcion, the Cebuano’s conqueror in Laban na Banal.

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IF I HAD less than 24 hours to live, I’d probably get GMA 7’s and Solar Sports’ help.

If they can stretch six minutes to three and a half hours, they’d do wonders for me.

At four minutes before 12, Manny Pacquiao ended Ricky Hatton’s unbeaten run at 140 pounds. At around 3:30, GMA time, Martin Nievera was still singing the national anthem.
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HAD quite a busy day last Sunday.

I had coffee and a bit of breakfast in Boracay, took a pee in Caticlan, had lunch in Kalibo, dinner at the Mall of Asia and slept in Cebu.
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FILIPINO-British footballers Chad Gould and James Younghusband want the national football team to have more friendlies and tournaments so it can continue to improve in the international arena.

The two, who played for the Philippines in the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup in Maldives, also want the team to have a coach who will stay for more than one tournament.
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FELIX and Juliet Balbona must be grinning ear to ear these days.

Their eldest daughter, Jessa, finished second in the 18-Under division of the National Age Group Chess Championship in Aklan, while their sons Marq Gabrielle and Felix Shaun both finished eighth in the Boys 14-Under and 12-Under divisions, respectively. John Francis also ended up 28th in the 12-Under division.
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MY interest got piqued when I read an article by the Associated Press that Smokin� Joe Frazier was still pissed at Muhammad Ali three decades after the epic finale of their trilogy. Why hold that grudge for so long?

I learned the reason last Saturday night.
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THE last time I saw a beach volleyball game was back in 2005 during the Southeast Asian Games (Seag) in Bacolod City.

Last Thursday, I caught a few minutes of action during the Visayas eliminations of the Nestea Beach Volleyball Championships at the sand court in Parkmall.
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