The Croatian Ivo Karlovic broke today the record for aces in a best-of-three set match thanks to the 45 direct serves he hit in the Halle tennis tournament.
This was confirmed by ATP after the quarterfinal match where the 2.11-meter-tall giant won against Czech Tomas Berdych by 7-5, 6-7 (8-10), and 6-3.
"It's wonderful to have achieved this," said the world number 27 after his victory. "I didn't think about it while playing. I knew there were many aces, but I found out it was a record after the match."
Karlovic himself shared the previous record with former Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis with 44 aces in a match.
The serve was the main resource that allowed the 36-year-old tennis player to advance to the semifinals in the German grass, where he will face either Roger Federer or Florian Mayer tomorrow.
Karlovic's record also occurred just one day after German Sabine Lisicki hit 27 aces in the Birmingham tournament and thus broke the record in the women's circuit.