AFP, Delray Beach :
Fourth seeded Croatian Ivo Karlovic pounded 17 aces, overpowering fifth-seeded Adrian Mannarino on Saturday to reach the ATP Delray Beach Open final.
Karlovic, ranked 29th in the world, saved all five break points he faced in the 70-minute match. He’ll face American Donald Young, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 winner over Australian Bernard Tomic. Karlovic, 35, will be playing in his 13th ATP tour final. He last captured a trophy at Bogota in July of 2013.
Young, 25, withstood 13 aces from Australia’s Tomic and saved seven of 10 break points he faced.
Young also beat Tomic in a three-setter in Memphis last week. The 25-year-old US southpaw, ranked 56th in the world, overcame eight double faults in the windy weather and sealed the win with a service break.
“My goal was to be more aggressive, move forward, not give (Tomic) too much time to start planning his attack because once he gets you on a string of the way he wants you to play it’s tough to get off of it,” Young said.
On Sunday, the American will be playing his second tour-level final. In his only other championship match he lost to Andy Murray in Bangkok in 2011.
“I lost pretty badly,” Young recalled of that final, adding that he didn’t think it would take another four years to get another title shot.
“It’s tough to get to the finals,” said Young, who is vying to become the third first-time winner on the ATP tour this year.
“It’s not something you do every day,” added Young, who upset third-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in the quarter-finals. “There have been other things that I felt were holding me back. It wasn’t just my game, it was about the consistency, the mental part and putting together back-to-back matches. I’m happy I’m able to do that lately.”
