Karlovic rallies past Kyrgios

Croatia’s 39-year-old Ivo Karlovic became the oldest ATP semifinalist since Jimmy Connors in 1993 by rallying past Australian Nick Kyrgios on Friday at the US Men’s Clay Court Championships.

World No. 88 Karlovic blasted 18 aces to defeat the 22-year-old Aussie fourth seed 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in 92 minutes, advancing to a Saturday matchup against US eighth seed Tennys Sandgren, who advanced to his first ATP semifinal by rallying past Argentina’s Guido Pella, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Not since Connors reached the last four at San Francisco a quarter-century ago has so old a player reached an ATP last four.

Karlovic, who wasn’t broken after his first service game of the match, beat the 24th-ranked Aussie for the first time in five tries, having lost to Kyrgios at last year’s Miami and Cincinnati Masters and in 2015 at Kuala Lumpur and the Australian Open.

In the late games on Friday, top seed John Isner was sent tumbling out by sixth-seeded compatriot Steve Johnson in a gruelling three-setter.

Isner was unable to get the better of Johnson’s service game and was beaten in two tie breaks en route to a 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(5) defeat.

Johnson will play Taylor Fritz in the last four. Fritz downed third seed Jack Sock 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to advance.