By Erik Gudris | Saturday, July 23, 2016

 

Ivo Karlovic, now on an eight match win streak, kept his game red hot on a scorching day to reach the Washington, D.C. final.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

37-year-old Ivo Karlovic kept his sizzling summer win streak going on a scorching day in Washington, D.C. The big-serving Croatian veteran finds himself in the Citi Open final after another solid straight sets win.

Now he will try to achieve one of his goals this year - winning an ATP 500 title for the first time ever.

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Many fans might think that Karlovic is just a guy with a big serve. Karlovic himself knows his biggest weapon is his serve, but feels other parts of his game are solid too.

”It’s difficult for anyone to notice anything else because my serve is that good,” Karlovic said about his game. “Everything else is going to look worse even though there are parts of my game that are good. My volleys, forehand, even my backhand slice. But if you look it at next to my serve it doesn’t look that unbelivable, that’s how it is.”

Saturday’s semifinal at the ATP 500 event featured on-court temperatures soaring above 100 degrees and with high humidity. Karlovic and his opponent, fifth seeded Steve Johnson, entered Stadium Court looking to take control early in their semfinal.

Karlovic was in a bid to reach his second consecutive ATP final having won Newport last week. Johnson, who upset top seed John Isner in the quarterfinals, was in the hunt to reach his first ever final in D.C.

Both players early on in the opening set found their way to the net in a bid to end points on their terms.

Karlovic secured the first service break against Johnson with a bit of flair. Holding a break point, Karlovic lunged for a backhand in mid-court that ended up as a winner for the Croatian. That gave Karlovic an early 2-1 lead.

Karlovic maintained his lead with big serving. With his eighth ace, Karlovic took the set 6-4.

A frustrated Johnson tried to make in roads in Karlovic’s serve in the second set. Holding an early break point, Johnson just missed on a down the line backhand passing shot. Karlovic went on to hold serve and then converted on his own break point chance later in the set.

With Johnson again trying to dictate from the net, it was Karlovic who came up with a winning shot to again break for 2-1.

From there, Karlovic dominated on his serve. Johnson, in turn, could only keep holding his own serve in hopes he might have a shot at breaking Karlovic.

That never happened though as Karlovic served for the match up 5-4. With easy power, Karlovic served his way to match point. With an appropriate 14th ace on the day, Karlovic clinched the 6-4, 6-4 win.

Karlovic, who saved all five break points against him, now goes in search of the biggest title of his career. All of Karlovic’s other seven career titles have been at the ATP 250 level.

Despite the loss, Johnson is now projected to reach No. 21 in the world on Monday, a new career high.

“On his serve he could do what he wants. On my serve I didn’t do a good enough job,”Johnson said abou the match. “It came down to two games today and unfortunately that’s all it is. I love this tournament. I was hoping to make the final here. Hopefully I’ll get another crack at it soon.”