By Chris Oddo | Sunday July 19, 2015
Rajeev Ram became the ATP's 15th thirtysomething winner of 2015 by taking down Ivo Karlovic in the Newport final.
Photo Source: International Tennis Hall of Fame
Rajeev Ram likes playing tennis in Newport. Scratch that: He loves playing tennis in Newport, and even more so after his takeout of second-seeded Ivo Karlovic to earn his second title at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
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World No. 161 Ram improved his impressive career record at Newport to 16-5 with his 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(2) victory over the hard-serving Croat. Excluding Newport, the American owns a less-than-sparkling main draw record of 25-62.
“I don’t know what to say,” a bemused Ram told the crowd during the post-match awards ceremony. “I’m in a little bit of shock here.”
For his efforts, Ram will rise from to 86 in the world on Monday.
“At the beginning of the week I was just happy to get into the tournament,” said Ram. “I never thought that I’d be standing here at the end of the week with this trophy.”
Ram out-battled Karlovic in a tight first set to take the lead, but he nearly let the 36-year-old back into it when he botched a volley on his first set point in the tiebreaker while serving. But with Karlovic serving at 5-6, Ram won the next point to claim the opener.
In the middle set Karlovic took advantage of his fourth break point, breaking when a let cord ball caused a net-rushing Ram to miss a makeable volley long.
In the third set neither player budged on serve, as only eight points were lost by the serve before the tiebreaker.
Ram took off in the tiebreaker however, racing to a 5-1 lead at the changeover before clinching on his first championship point when Karlovic netted a passing attempt.
“Hopefully I’ll be back here again next year,” said Karlovic, who also reached the Newport final last year before losing to Lleyton Hewitt. “And hopefully I’m going to win.”
Ram, who upset top-seeded John Isner in the first round, also took out fifth-seeded Adrian Mannarino en route to his second career title, and his first since 2009. The American, aged 31, becomes the 15th ATP thirtysomething to claim a title in 2015.