Karlovic started off the match badly, going 0-3 down to Muller. He broke back to 3-3, but Karlovic was still trailing until the tiebreak, having only one break point after the rebreak. Muller took a lead of two minibreaks in the tiebreak, leading 5-1. Karlovic then only got one more point before losing the tiebreak 2-7.
“In the beginning… I didn’t really feel my serve. I was a little bit doubtful,” said Karlovic, who double faulted six times in his first three service games. “But I just tried to hang in there and tried to get to a tiebreak any way I could.”
Second set saw only two break points, both for Karlovic. There were no minibreaks in the tiebreak either until 6-5, when Karlovic broke Muller’s serve and took the second tiebreak 7-5.
“His serve is unbelievable. I was trying to return anyway I could,” Karlovic said. “It was difficult. I was really happy that I was able to do it.”
There was not a single break point in the final set, but the tiebreak more than made up for it in eventfulness. Muller started it off with a 2-0 minibreak, and kept it until 3-1. Karlovic then won 4 points in a row to make it 5-3. At 5-4, Karlovic was serving for the match and got broken for 5-5. Nobody lost their serves for a long time, until Karlovic broke Muller for 13-12, and then served it out and won the tiebreak 14-12, saving 3 match points.
Karlovic previously lost 2 finals in Newport, but this time he finally takes the crown. “After all these years when I was losing in the final and now I was finally able to do it,” Karlovic said. “And I was down a match point. That makes it even nicer.”
