At age 37, Karlovic beats Johnson to reach Citi Open final

Ivo Karlovic’s big serve carried him to a second consecutive final at age 37, earning a 6-4, 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded American Steve Johnson at the Citi Open on Saturday in Washington.

The 6-foot-11 Karlovic, a Croatian seeded 13th at the hard-court tournament, saved all five break points he faced in the semifinals.

Last week, at the grass-court tournament in Newport, R.I., Karlovic became the oldest man since 1979 to win an ATP singles title.

Since losing his first six matches of 2016, Karlovic has gone 16-7.

In the 25 years that ATP service stats cover, Karlovic leads the tour with more than 11,000 career aces and by winning 92 percent of his service games.

Paolo Lorenzi of Italy became the oldest first-time winner of an ATP event after beating Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-4 in the Generali Open final at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

The 123rd-ranked Basilashvili was the first Georgian player to appear in an ATP final.