Monfils rallies past Karlovic for Washington crown

WASHINGTON: France’s Gael Monfils saved a match point and battled back with sharp returns in sweltering heat to defeat Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 in Sunday’s Washington Open final.

The 29-year-old Frenchman took his sixth ATP title, his first since 2014 at Montpellier, first outside of Europe and first outdoor trophy since Sopot in 2005 as well as claiming the top prize of $348,200 (317,266 euro) on the US capital hardcourts.

Monfils withstood a barrage of 27 aces from the 37-year-old Croatian, firing back 16 of his own. He ended Karlovic’s streak of 70 unbroken service games when the Croatian served for the match in the 10th game of the second set.

Flamboyant Monfils denied Karlovic on a match point in the second-set tiebreaker as well, broke him again in the third game of the final set and held from there to win in two hours and 13 minutes.