Muller topples Karlovic in battle of the oldies

Muller topples Karlovic in battle of the oldies
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Summary Estonia's Anett Kontaveit scooped up her first WTA title

 S-HERTOGENBOSCH (AFP) - Luxembourg s Gilles Muller downed towering Croat Ivo Karlovic on Sunday to claim the title in  s-Hertogenbosch in a final with the oldest combined age for two players since 1976.

Muller, 34, beat 38-year-old Karlovic 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in a showdown of two of the game s biggest servers to lift his second tour-level trophy, following January s triumph in Sydney.

It was the oldest men s singles final since Ken Rosewall (42) and Ilie Nastase (30) went head-to-head in Hong Kong 41 years ago.

Muller smacked 22 aces to Karlovic s 19 with not a single break point for either player as the Luxembourger atoned for last year s final defeat in the Netherlands to Nicolas Mahut.

He next heads to Queen s where he faces Georgia s Nikoloz Basilashvili in the opening round of the Wimbledon warm-up event.

Estonia s Anett Kontaveit scooped up her first WTA title after beating Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia 6-2, 6-3 in the women s final.

The 21-year-old from Tallinn, ranked 49th in the world, routed Vikhlyantseva, 20, in just 73 minutes to continue her strong 2017 form.

Kontaveit finished runner-up on clay in Biel in April and has also recorded wins over world number one Angelique Kerber and 2016 French Open champion Garbine Muguruza this season.

"I m just so excited!" said Kontaveit. "It s been amazing for me, I had really tough matches and I m so happy to be through them - to win the final, it s amazing."

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