Ivo Karlovic in Houston: 6 match points not converted - but back in the top 100
Ivo Karlovic will probably finish in the top 100 again thanks to his finals appearance at the ATP Challenger tournament in Houston - for the 17th time in a row. Almost more could have been in it.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Nov 19, 2019, 10:35 am
With his 6: 7 (5), 6: 3, 6: 4 semi-final victory over Australian Christopher O'Connell, "Dr. Ivo " is again in the top 100 in the world - and should also hibernate there. He has always done that since the 2003 season.
And it could have been even more: in the final against US American Marcos Giron, Karlovic narrowly lost with 5: 7, 7: 6 (5) and 6: 7 (9). Tough: At 5: 5 in the third he had a 0:40 lead, after he had barely made a stab on the return to date, but Giron took strong punches. In the tiebreak Karlovic then led with 6: 1 and 8: 7, but could not use all six match points (two of them at own serve).
However, the 40-year-old aces king still achieved his main goal: With a 95th place in the current ATP ranking, he should be in the main draw of the Australian Open 2020 - with almost 41 years.
As in 2018 with a strong season finish
Karlovic had saved his season with a similar final spurt in the previous year, after he had long been plagued by homesickness for his family, he had lost the desire for tennis and slipped to 138th place.
The Croat had a deal with himself then closed: If he reached the main draw of Melbourne in the fall by competing at the Challenger Tour, he would continue to play, but otherwise end his career. At that time he achieved his goal with 13 wins from 17 matches. Among them was the victory at the Challenger tournament in Calgary , where he wrote history at age 39 as the oldest ATP Challenger tournament winner.
He almost surpassed his own record yesterday with a triumph in Houston. The points cushion he could have needed for 2020: Right at the start of the season, the 2,11-man has 150 points to defend his final in Pune, where he lost at the beginning of this year against Kevin Anderson in a tiebreak thriller.