Gael Monfils destroys Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets – Davis Cup 2011: FRA vs GER QF
Roaring for their players, were the German fans at the TC Weissenhof Stuttgart stadium in Stuttgart as Team France took on Team Germany for their quarterfinal tie at the 2011 Davis Cup on Friday, 8th July. Meeting in
the second singles rubber of the tie were Frenchman Gael Monfils and German Philipp Kohlschreiber. Despite the fact that they were playing in their own backyard, the Germans had lost in the first rubber against the French team, lagging 0-1 in the tie score.
Playing for the fifth time against each other, Monfils had previously won 3 of the 4 matches against the world No.42 German. Standing at 6’4”, the gigantic Frenchman has long arms which he uses to hit strong forehands and one
hand backhands. Taking almost three hours, Monfils recorded a 7-6(3), 7-6(5), 6-4 win over the German.
Although Kohlschreiber has won three titles in his career, he has failed to make it to the top 10 in his career of ten years. Though his position dropped 3 places in a week, he succeeded in snatching the Gerry Weber Open earlier
in the season. Improving his playing technique, Phillip has managed to pull himself out of pressure points. But that wasn’t enough for the German as he faced the world’s 7th best player.
Starting the second rubber, Kohlschreiber served as he looked strong at the start. Given the disparity in the ranking, Gael was the outright favourite to win the match. Off with a flyer, Gael gave no room to the German and took
away the first with a tiebreaker. Kohlschreiber, from 3-5 down in the worked hard to win the set as he came back and levelled the score to 6-6 in the first set but could not finish it off. Triumphing in the tiebreaker, Monfils hit multiple aces and winners
to clinch an 8-6 victory, going one up in the set score.
The second set gave the fans a replay of the first set, as Gael won another tiebreaker. However, this time the German gave it his best shot and made Monfils play some extra shots. Though he had a tough time playing the German,
Monfils, a strong runner, maintained his concentration and took away the second set as well making the score 7-6(3), 7-6(5) at the end of the second set.
Monfils took no chance in extending the match as he ended the third set with a 4-6 win over the World No.42, winning the 2ndrubber against Germany. France won both of their matches against Germany and needs just one
more rubber win to move in the Davis Cup semi-finals.
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