Ivo Karlovic made history at the Tata Open Maharashtra on Friday, becoming the first player since 43-year-old Ken Rosewall at 1977 Hong Kong to reach a tour-level final. The 39-year-old beat Belgian Steve Darcis 7-6(3), to advance to his first championship match since ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2017.

The former World No. 14 had already made history this week by becoming the oldest tour-level semi-finalist since Jimmy Connors made the last four at 1993 San Francisco. But Karlovic defeated Darcis in one hour and 55 minutes to go one step further, where he will play top seed Kevin Anderson or defending champion Gilles Simon for the title.

Karlovic has now reached seven of his 19 ATP Tour finals after turning 35, and it is an especially good effort for him this week considering he had not reached a tour-level quarter-final since Houston last April. The Croat has claimed eight ATP Tour titles, with his most recent triumph coming in Los Cabos three years ago.

It was a feel-good semi-final against Darcis, who missed all of 2018 due to injury, and became the first unranked player in ATP Tour history (since 1990) to make a tour-level semi-final. But Karlovic, who also defeated the Belgian at Wimbledon in 2009 in their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, was too strong on serve. The 6’11” right-hander won 90 per cent of his first-serve points in the match. And while he was broken for the first time in the tournament, Karlovic struck 33 aces to extend his tournament lead to 88 aces.

It appeared that Darcis might have changed momentum when he broke Karlovic in the second set, as the Croat missed an overhead off the bounce well long. The Belgian had plenty of motivation in his first ATP Tour semi-final since 2012 in Eastbourne. But Karlovic lost just five service points in the decider, and earned his first break of the match in the third set before holding through the rest of the set to clinch the victory. 

Did You Know?
Karlovic began the week at No. 100 in the ATP Rankings. But thanks to his efforts, he will return to at least the Top 70 on Monday regardless of his result in the final.

Wesley Koolhof and Marcus Daniell booked their places in a second ATP Tour final on Friday at the Brisbane International by scraping past Australian wild cards John Millman and John-Patrick Smith 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 10-8 in one hour and 56 minutes. Both teams won 86 points. In October last year, Daniell and Koolhof finished as runners up in their first title match at the Intrum Stockholm Open (l. to Bambridge/O’Mara).

They will next face fourth seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, who lost just sixth of their first service points to beat Australian wild cards James Duckworth and Jordan Thompson 7-6(5), 6-3 in 72 minutes. Watch Highlights

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Daniil Medvedev is one step closer to a second ATP Tour final on Australian soil, almost 12 months on from capturing his first title at the Sydney International. The fourth-seeded Russian kept his nerve on Friday to defeat 2016 champion and fifth seed Milos Raonic of Canada 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and nine minutes at the Brisbane International.

Medvedev withstood 29 aces from Raonic, saved all eight break points he faced – including three set points at 4-5 in the first set – and struck 12 aces to advance to the semi-finals, where he will face France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or seventh seed Alex de Minaur of Australia.

Raonic had three set points at 5-4, with Medvedev serving at 0/40, but the Russian fought off all three and forced a tie-break. There, however, Raonic dominated to take the opener.

Medvedev secured the first break of the match, though, in the second game of the second set and cruised to even the quarter-final with an ace. The 22-year-old needed to bide his time until the ninth game of the decider when he broke Raonic, who won 82 per cent of his first-service points.

In addition to the Sydney title (d. de Minaur), World No. 16 Medvedev also lifted ATP Tour trophies in 2018 at the Winston-Salem Open (d. Johnson) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships (d. Nishikori). Raonic, 28, has compiled 30+ wins in seven of the past eight seasons.

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Established:1885

Tournament Dates: 6-12 January 2019

Tournament Director: Lawrence Robertson

Draw Ceremony: Saturday, 5 January at 9am

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Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday at 10am; Sunday at 12pm
* Main draw: Sunday – Monday at 12pm; Tuesday at 12pm & 7pm; Wednesday – Friday at 1pm & 7pm
* Doubles final: Saturday, 12 January at 3pm
* Singles final: Saturday, 12 January at 7pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 

Venue: Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre
Main Court Seating: 10,000

Prize Money: US $527,880 (Total Financial Commitment: US $589,680) 

Tickets On Sale: 4 October 2018 – Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Lleyton Hewitt (4)
Most Titles, Doubles: Daniel Nestor, Todd Woodbridge (5)
Oldest Champion: Mal Anderson, 37, in 1973 
Youngest Champion: Lleyton Hewitt, 18, in 2000

2018 Finals
Singles: [Q] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) d Alex de Minaur (AUS) 16 64 75   Read & Watch
Doubles: [1] Lukasz Kubot (POL) / Marcelo Melo (BRA) d Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) / Viktor Troicki (SRB) 63 64  Read More

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