Karlovic comes up aces to win Calgary Challenger
‘The Ace King’ has been crowned champion of the $75,000 Calgary National Bank Challenger.
Ivo Karlovic, known for his hard serves, was simply aces to win the men’s singles title at the ATP Challenger Tour stop.
The Croatian tennis star had 24 aces in defeating Australia’s Jordan Thompson 7-6, 6-3 in Sunday’s finale at the Osten & Victor Alberta Tennis Centre.
Karlovic, who’s climbed as high as No. 14 in the ATP rankings, officially held the record for the fastest serve recorded in professional tennis, measured at 251 km/h, before being surpassed by Samuel Groth in 2012.
“It was a very difficult match,” Karlovic told atpworldtour.com of Sunday’s final. “(Thompson) was serving very well. Not as hard, but a good placement. But at the end of the match, I was able to control it. It has been an excellent week. I enjoyed it a lot here and had a great experience. This tennis centre is unbelievable.”
With his appearance in Sunday ’s final, the 39-yearold Karlovic became the oldest finalist in Challenger history, breaking his own mark that he set a mere two weeks ago by reaching the final at an event in Mexico.
Karlovic and Thompson went in as the top two seeds in the tournament respectively.
Karlovic came into the event ranked 121st in the ATP rankings. Thompson, 24, was No. 108.
The first set didn’t disappoint, as a tiebreak was needed to decide the winner, which was the big-serving Croatian.
Halfway through the second set, the two finalists swapped breaks before Karlovic managed to build his advantage with his strong service game.
In the end, it took 73 minutes for Karlovic to earn the singles crown of the inaugural edition of the tour stop.
With his win, he becomes the oldest champion in ATP Challenger Tour history at 39 years and seven months and rises up 13 spots to No. 108 in the ATP Rankings.
The Calgary National Bank Challenger victory was the 16th title of his career (ATP World Tour & ATP Challenger Tour combined), as he earned $10,800 in prize money from the event.
Thompson, meanwhile, gets a payday of $6,360 for second place in singles play.
Weeklong, Karlovic fired a total of 126 aces on the indoor hard courts of the Osten & Victor Alberta Tennis Centre.
In Saturday’s semifinals, Thompson toppled Christian Ruud, of Norway, 6-7, 6-0, 7-6 and Karlovic defeated Borno Gojo, of Croatia, 7-6. 7-6.
On Saturday, Americans Nathan Pasha and Robert Galloway claimed the doubles crown of the Calgary National Bank Challenger.
They topped the Australian team of John-Patrick Smith and Matt Reid 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 in the doubles final. Pasha and Galloway went into the tournament as the No. 2 ranked doubles entry, while Smith and Reid were ranked first.