NEW YORK • Ivo Karlovic of Croatia served his way into the US Open record books on Tuesday when he fired 61 aces in his 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 win over Chinese Taipei's Lu Yen-hsun.
He beat the previous best of 49 aces for one match in New York by Dutchman Richard Krajicek in his 1999 quarter-final loss to Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
"I knew there were a lot of aces because there was a period (in the second set) when almost every serve was an ace," said the 2.11m Karlovic after his first-round victory .
"I knew there was a lot but I didn't know it was this many."
It was not the first time he had served more than 50 aces in a match. His previous best in a Tour match was 55 against Australian Lleyton Hewitt in 2009 at the French Open. In the same year, he served 78 aces against the Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek in a Davis Cup clash.
He has now served 11,277 aces in his career, 1000 more than second-placed Goran Ivanisevic.
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61 Aces Ivo Karlovic served against Lu Yen-hsun, a US Open record.
49 Previous US Open record held by Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands.
113 Most aces in a tennis match, by American John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010, a contest that lasted more than 11 hours played over three days.
11,277 Karlovic's career aces total, the highest among Association of Tennis Professionals players since records were collated in 1991.
"Of course this is my best shot. I have worked a lot on it. I'm proud of it," said the 37-year-old.
America's John Isner holds the all-time Grand Slam record of 113 aces served during his famous 70-68 fifth-set victory over Nicolas Mahut in the first round of Wimbledon in 2010.
Karlovic's achievement on Tuesday sparked an immediate Twitter reaction.
"@ivokarlovic dude 61 WTF," tweeted Australian star Nick Kyrgios.
Karlovic replied, tongue in cheek: "Yeah got some shoulder issues!"
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
