July 18 (Reuters) - American Rajeev Ram continued his love affair with Newport as he booked his place in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championship final with a 6-4 7-6(4) victory over Australia's John-Patrick Smith in Rhode Island on Saturday.
The big-serving Ram, whose only ATP World Tour title came on the grass surface of Newport in 2009, shrugged off blustery conditions to seal the win in one hour 23 minutes.
Doubles specialist Ram, 31, will meet either second seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia or fourth-seeded American Jack Sock in Sunday's final.
Karlovic and Sock were scheduled to meet in the other semi-final later on Saturday.
"It was definitely tough," 161st-ranked Ram told Tennis Channel about the on-court conditions after winning the last two points of the match on serve to clinch the tiebreak 7-4. "It was really swirly right from the beginning.
"I served 40-something percent in the first set and that's not great. But I did everything else pretty well. I was able to take my chances when I had them."
Ram, a runner-up in the doubles at last year's Hall of Fame Tennis Championship, has always relished playing on the grass of Newport.
"I've done all right here definitely," said Ram, who saved two match points before battling past fifth-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 2-6 7-6(8) 7-6(2) in the quarter-finals.
"I love this tournament, I love this town and the court suits my game pretty well. I'm just happy to be able to play for another one tomorrow."