Sandgren ousts Karlovic to reach first ATP final
Los Angeles, United States: American eighth seed Tennys Sandgren advanced to his first ATP Tour final on Saturday, downing Croatia's 39-year-old Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4) at the US Men's Clay Court Championships.
World number 56 Sandgren, whose only ATP-level run past the first round before this week was into January's Australian Open quarter-finals, booked a berth in Sunday's trophy match against the winner of a later semi-final between Americans Steve Johnson and Taylor Fritz.
With a victory, 88th-ranked Karlovic would have become the oldest ATP finalist since Ken Rosewall won the 1977 Hong Kong title at age 43.
Karlovic settled for being the oldest ATP semi-finalist since Jimmy Connors in 1993 at San Francisco, unable to repeat his 2007 Houston title run to his only career clay crown.
Sandgren broke back to level at 4-4 in the opening set, denied Karlovic on a break chance in the ninth game and then dominated the tie-breaker, scoring five of the last six points.
The 26-year-old American broke for a 2-1 edge in the second set but Karlovic broke back to level at 3-3, setting up the final tie-break. Sandgren took his lone point off Karlovic's serve for a 5-3 lead, then held twice on his next serves for the 97-minute victory.
