BERLIN — Croatian Ivo Karlovic hit a record 45 aces en route to beating third seed Tomas Berdych and reach the Halle Open semi-finals on Friday.
The big-serving Croatian, standing at 2.11 meters tall, improved the record for a three-set ATP tour match by one ace, winning 7-5 6-7(8) 6-3.
"Berdych returns quite well really," Karlovic, the world number 27, told reporters. "That's why lots of aces are so important."
Predictably, the 36-year-old Karlovic clinched victory with an ace.
"I didn't really know how many aces I'd done. But when I heard it was 45 I knew that's a new record.