SPORTS-Wildcard Fish upends Karlovic to reach New Haven final

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, Aug 25 (Reuters) American wildcard Mardy Fish upended Ivo Karlovic 7-6 6-4 to reach the final of the ATP event in New Haven, his first final in 16 months.

Fish tamed the Karlovic serve to beat the Croat for the first time in five meetings yesterday and set up a clash with compatriot and third seed James Blake or French fifth-seed Paul-Henri Mathieu.

''First of all, just beating him has been pretty tough for me to say the least,'' he said.

''I think we were both pretty tired out there but I just tried to bluff my way through it.'' Both men had been forced to play two matches on Thursday after a virtual washout on Tuesday, but after taking the first-set tiebreak 7-3, Fish proved the stronger.

''I felt whoever won the first set was going to have a major advantage and though I got down a break, I broke him to 15 when he served for the set luckily and felt good from there,'' he said.

TEMPERATURES The match had been played in hot temperatures, but Karlovic said that had not been his problem.

''I think because yesterday I was playing a lot and it was pretty tiring. I was here all day,'' he said.

''I was eating late. I slept awful. I woke up with a headache and was feeling really bad on the court today.'' The heat proved too much for sixth seed Elena Dementieva, who was forced to retire from her semi-final with fellow Russian and top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova when trailing 3-0 in the third set.

Dementieva, who lost to Kuznetsova in the final of the US Open in 2004, won the first set but struggled with nausea as the match wore on.

''I just felt a little sick,'' Dementieva said. ''I think it was really humid and hot out there and we had a very physical game from the first point.

Kuznetsova said Dementieva had told her she felt sick when she quit.

''It was very funny,'' she said. ''She came to shake my hand and she said, 'I feel like throwing up'. And I said, 'OK, so go away from me'''.

REUTERS TB RS1005