Gerry Weber Open: Karlovic crushes Berdych with 45-ace record

Halle (Germany), June 20 (IANS/EFE) Croatian tennis player Ivo Karlovic hit a record 45 aces to eliminate Czech opponent Tomas Berdych from the quarter-finals of the Gerry Weber Open here.

He eclipsed the previous ATP record of 44 in a best-of-three-sets match, that he shared with Australian Mark "Scud" Philippoussis.

Karlovic, 36, qualified for the semi-finals of the championship after beating Berdych 7-5, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3 in two hours and 12 minutes on Friday, with a display of stunning winners, achieving his second win this year against one of the ATP top 10 players after winning against Novak Djokovic in Doha earlier this year.

"I'm extremely happy about the record. Hitting aces helps a lot, you can avoid the volleys. I was surprised when I was told on court after the match how many aces I hit. I didn't know it was that many. Hopefully I can continue like that in the semi-final," Karlovic said after the match.

Karlovic will be playing the semi-finals against the winner of the match between Switzerland's Roger Federer and the German Florian Mayer.

--IANS/EFE

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