Gulbis reaches first career final at Delray Beach

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- Ernests Gulbis of Latvia and Ivo Karlovic of Croatia will play in the final at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Sunday.

Gulbis reached his first career final with a 6-4, 6-4 semifinal win over Jarkko Nieminen of Finland on Saturday, while Karlovic took out defending champion Mardy Fish 6-2, 6-3.

Karlovic, who is in the hunt for a fifth career title, will face the 21-year-old Gulbis for the first time on the same day he celebrates his 31st birthday.

"I was playing really well," said the 33rd-ranked Karlovic, who only lost six points on serve in the match. "I don't remember when I've played like this.

"It was really cold so I didn't have that many aces, but everything else was really good."

The 72nd-ranked Gulbis of Latvia, who has reached two other semifinals, was serving for the match at 6-4, 5-4 when rain interrupted play for just over three hours. It took him two minutes to serve out the match when they went back on court in front of 61 spectators.

He finished in fine style with a 125 mph ace.

"I'm mentally stronger than I was," Gulbis said. "I feel different on court. I think I'm playing a lot smarter I think, I hope. I was ready from the first point."

Nieminen is on the comeback after a groin injury, wrist surgery and the swine flu sidelined him for most of last season.

"I thought I didn't do too much wrong in the whole match," he said. "He didn't give me too much margin in making an error because he was serving huge."

Bob and Mike Bryan, the No. 1 doubles team in the world, captured their 600th career match win by beating fellow Americans Taylor Dent and Ryan Harrison 6-7 (6), 7-5 (10-4) in the semifinals.

If the Bryans win the title on Sunday, they will have the second-most doubles wins in history. The twins are tied at 57 with Peter Fleming and John McEnroe, while former players Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia hold the record with 61 doubles titles.