Sunday 24 July 2016 09:08, UK
Ivo Karlovic's big serve carried him to a second consecutive ATP final at the age of 37 with a 6-4 6-4 win over fifth seed American Steve Johnson at the Citi Open on Saturday.
The 6ft 11in Karlovic, seeded 13th at the hard-court tournament in Washington DC, saved all five break points he faced in the semi-finals. He has won all 43 of his service games this week.
"This is my game. This is my strength," said Karlovic who will face second seed Gael Monfils in Sunday's final, live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 8pm BST.
The Croatian broke Johnson in the third game of each set. Last week at the grass-court tournament in Newport, Rhode Island, Karlovic became the oldest man since 1979 to win an ATP singles title.
A downbeat Johnson said: "It's definitely frustrating when you have chances, you don't take them and you lose your focus for a second and you lose serve."
The 26-year-old Johnson from California, who eliminated top-seeded John Isner in the quarter-finals, added: "That's the margin when you play a guy like Ivo, who pretty much only has a serve."
Monfils, the 2011 runner-up at Washington, advanced by breaking No 7 Alexander Zverev four times in a 6-4 6-0 victory that lasted only an hour.
Zverev revealed he had been throwing up and was dehydrated, attributing the problem to something he ate and adding: "It's not like I didn't try."
Monfils reached the 25th final of his career, having only won five. He is 2-2 against Karlovic, but they haven't faced each other in five years.
"Ivo is the same," said Monfils, who has accumulated 15 breaks of serve this week. "You know what to expect."
Watch Karlovic v Monfils in the Citi Open final from 8pm on Sky Sports 2 HD.
