2011 French Open: Sam Querrey takes down Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round
American domination ruled Philipp Kohlschreiber out of Roland Garros, as Sam Querrey defeated the German in the opening round on Tuesday afternoon. In the competition being played in Paris, France, Querrey took down Kohlschreiber in two hours and five minutes of play, settling the final score at 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
Ranked at number 28 in the world, Querrey books a berth in the second round of the Grand Slam tournament after his comprehensive victory over the German. He had sloppy start to the contest, dropping the opener early but bounced back very strongly to dominate the rest of the matchup.
42nd ranked Kohlschreiber last faced the American two years back in the Australian Open, where he stood victorious in straight sets 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-2. Querrey finally avenged his defeat from the German in the second Grand Slam of the year and now leads the all-time head-to-head series by 2-1.
Kohlschreiber had a magnificent start to the game, bagging the opener convincingly to get the early advantage in the contest but completely lost his steam in the very next set. Querrey reeled off the last three sets to register his eighth win of the running ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season and getting a pass to the next stage of Roland Garros.
Both men served with an ordinary accuracy of round about 55 per cent mark and made the most out of it. The American secured 38 out of 53 first serve points and fired 12 rapid aces to the opponent’s court en route to victory.
The German competitor was very aggressive right from the beginning and struck an early serve break to get into his momentum. He closed the first set at 6-3 to get in a commanding position in the matchup but failed to carry on the impetus in the rest of the game.
Querrey didn’t take much time to regroup and backfired at the German in the very next set, striking two serve breaks to force his way back into the competition. He then capitalised upon his opponent’s mistakes to take the third set as well at 6-2 and get to a substantial lead of 2-1 in the contest. Kohlschreiber failed to interrupt the onslaught from Querrey, who went on to cruise through the fourth sets to register a victory at 6-4.
Querrey will take on the former world number three, Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the second round of the French Open. The Croatian defeated Somdev Devvarman of India in straight sets 6-4,6-3, 6-4, in the opening round.
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