David Ferrer has halted the progress of giant killer Jerzy Janowicz and claimed his first Masters 1000 title, beating the Polish qualifier 6-4, 6-3. Ferrer has also become the first Spaniard to ever win the Paris title.
On his way to the final Jerzy took out Kohlschrieber, Cilic, Murray, Tipsarevic and Simon and put on an impressive display of power serving during the match but was not enough for the consistent Spaniard. Read more
Juan Martin del Potro is looking like he’s almost back to full flight. His backhand has slightly less power behind it but in his match against Lu tonight he showed just how hard he can still his his forehand.
The gentle giant played some great tennis against Lu who gave his best and produced some great shot and displayed his impressive court speed, but Lu simply didn’t have anywhere near the power of the lanky Argentine. Read more
Given the recent form of some of the higher ranked players (Berdych I’m looking at you here) and the significant number of highly ranked fatigued (Djokovic, Federer, Nadal) and injured players (Simon, Fish) looking at the first round match ups took longer than it normally does. Recently players like Ivan Dodig, Andreas Seppi, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Janko Tipsarevic have stepped up and played some great tennis on grass and should make for an interesting Wimbledon. Read more
Posted in Andy Murray, Fabio Fognini, Fernando Gonzalez, Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Simon, Injury, Ivan Dodig, Ivan Ljubicic, Ivo Karlovic, Janko Tipsarevic, John Isner, Marin Cilic, Milos Raonic, Nicolas Mahut, Novak Djokovic, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Philipp Petzschner, Radek Stepanek, Rafael Nadal, Robin Haase, Robin Soderling, Roger Federer, Roland Garros, Wimbledon
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fter Roger Federer withdrew from this years tournament in Halle, the title was up for grabs and it was German Philipp Kohlschreiber who took it out 7-6m 2-0 after compatriot Philipp Petzschner (a battle of the Philipp’s this time instead of the Andy’s) retired with a back injury.
After highly competitive first set in which both players held serve, Petzschner taking the first mini break in the tiebreak before Kohlschrieber won four consecutive points to take the tiebreak and the first set. Read more
Posted in Halle, Injury, Lleyton Hewitt, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Philipp Petzschner, Roger Federer
Tomas Berdych seems to have recovered from his embarrassing first round lost at Roland Garros and has rebounded with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Viktor Troicki to book a place in the semifinals of Halle after just 81 minutes.
Berdych will now face Philipp Petzschner.
While Berdych moves on, defending champion Lleyton Hewitt was sent packing after being defeated in straight sets by Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Juan Martin del Potro is continuing to move forward, passing Philipp Kohlscreiber 7-6, 7-6 for a place in the quarterfinal of Indian Wells. After Philipp tried to fight back from a set and a break deficit, del Potro then being forced to fight when Philipp took a 6-1 lead in the tie break.
Juan Martin’s return to form is impressive for many different reasons. Not only did he have surgery on his wrist last year, a wrist that appears to be pretty stable, but he barely played a handful of tournaments and yet he doesn’t appear to be match weary. Read more
Robin Soderling has failed to survive his third round encounter with Philipp Kohlschreiber. The German won 7-6, 6-4 and unfortunately Soderling was not gracious in defeat.
Soderling twice found himself up breaks of serve but was unable to maintain the lead or convert a set point in the tiebreak. The loss only worsens his now 1-4 head to head record against Philipp. Read more
Posted in Illness, Indian Wells, Injury, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Rafael Nadal, Robin Soderling
With the first Masters 1000 Series tournament, Indian Wells, kicking off today for the men in the main draw, players have been hitting the beautiful Californian grounds of the tournament.
Players including Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Viktor Troicki and Philipp Kohlschrieber took to the grassy fields, separated from their fans by a small white picket fence, to play a game of football. Read more
Posted in Andy Murray, Indian Wells, Novak Djokovic, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Viktor Troicki
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Andy Roddick, who has struggled with illness and form all season, has been injured in Shanghai on the exact date he was injured in the same tournament last year. The groin strain may be enough to keep Roddick from participating in the year end Masters tournament in London for the second year in a row.
Roddick had been leading 6-3, 2-3 against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez when he withdrew. His withdrawal comes after Kohlschrieber retired against Roddick in the first round.
“It was to the point where moving at all felt like I was getting stabbed in the leg. It’s just frustrating. You’ve got to be able to get a little bit of momentum going, and I just feel like I haven’t been able to do that since April or May and a lot of that has been out of my hands.”
Last year Shanghai was cursed with injuries that highlighted the ATP scheduling issues and the harm that it causes the players.
Posted in Andy Roddick, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, Injury, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Shanghai
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Rafael Nadal has booked a place in the Roger’s Cup semi final’s where he will face Andy Murray in a rematch of their brilliant Australian Open quarterfinal which ended in Nadal withdrawing injured. Nadal struggled to find his momentum early in the match before racing to the finish like 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours.
In his opening service game Nadal quickly fell behind 0-40, he made a brief comeback before the aggressive play of Kohlschreiber won the break. The German, who has never beaten Nadal, quickly raced to a 3-0 lead, taking advantage of some short, high balls off the world number one’s racquet.
Nadal shook his head in disbielf as he struggled to find his range in the beautiful day-time conditions. Philipp powered on, showing off some impressive net skills and pushing Rafa around the court anad forcing the Spanaird into defence mode. Nadal had been standing up in the court in his previous matches, but for the first set and a half Rafa seemed to morph back in to an older version of himself, standing well behind the baseline.
Somehow Nadal turned it around and reversed the scoreline by breaking Philipp and getting a handy 3-0 lead in the second set. Aside from that minor blip, Kohlschreiber was strong on serve, despite the slow decline of his first serve percentage.
After winning the second set 6-3, Nadal continued to work his way into the match, slowly but surely breaking down Kohlscreibers serve and forehand, taking the ball sooner and rushing the German into error.
In the third game of the third set Rafa had three break point chances, and after hitting another wide he thumped his shoe with his racquet – an unheard of expression of anger from the placid Spaniard. After fending off a fourth break point Philipp pushed Rafa deep in the court and followed it up with an intellegent drop shot landing just out of the quick Spaniards reach to hold.
Nadal struck in the seventh game, breaking Kohlscreiber to love to position himself comfortably in the lead at 4-3. Somehow Nadal dug a ball back that was behind his body to create a brilliant cross court passing shot. He finished off the game with a brilliant down the line forehand. It was becoming increasingly evident that the huge decline in Kohlscreibers first serve percentage (down from mid 80′s in the first set to mid 30′s in the third) that was making it easier for Nadal to control the points, and more and more difficult for Philipp to continue playing what was brilliantly inspired attacking tennis.
Philipp managed to do the unthinkable when serving for the match – beat Nadal’s legs with a drop shot three times, saving the game with a beautiful cross court backhand. Playing faster between points, (interestingly with no signs of the $500,000 watch) Nadal’s forehand was lethal in closing out the match
After the match Nadal expressed disappointment with his play for half of the match but was happy to be in the semi’s again. “Philipp played well at the beginning and I made a lot of mistakes, but I found confidence on my serve in the second set and finished the match much better.”
Posted in Andy Murray, Australian Open, Injury, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Rafael Nadal, Rogers Cup
