Kevin Anderson wins battle of giants for Pune crown

PUNE: Gilles Simon was conspicuous by his absence. But don’t tell that to Kevin Anderson.


Having avenged his 2018 final loss by beating the Frenchman in the semifinals on Friday, the South African World No. 6 went one step further on Saturday to clinch the Tata Open Maharashtra title.

In what was the tallest final on the ATP Tour in the Open era, the 6’8” Anderson edged out 6’11” Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5) in a 2-hour 44-minute epic on the centre court at the Shiv

Chhatrapati

Sports Complex.

The previous tallest final was at the 2013 Atlanta event where

John Isner

(6’10”) overcame Anderson 6-7, 7-6, 7-6.

Anderson served 21 aces, against Karlovic’s 36, on the way to his sixth career title.

The Croat passed himself at 2017 ’s-Hertogenbosch as the oldest finalist on record since Ken Rosewall at 1977

Hong Kong

.

Yet, despite the plethora of statistics, the final wasn’t all about numbers.