Philipp Kohlschreiber dumps Tommy Robredo in opening round clash – China Open 2011
Another surprising result was witnessed in the opening round of the China Open, as the former world number five, Tommy Robredo of Spain, crashed out of the competition at the hands of the 52nd ranked German contestant,
Philipp Kohlschreiber, on Tuesday afternoon.
The contest was played on the outdoor hard courts of the Olympic Green Tennis Center, in Beijing, China, with the German qualifier coming out as the winner in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(0). Kohlschreiber took one hour and thirty three
minutes of play to dispose of the reigning world number 46 in a convincing manner.
Unseeded in the tournament, Robredo suffered his ninth defeat of the running ATP season, with already 19 victories to his name. It was Kohlschreiber’s second consecutive win over the Spaniard, improving his head-to-head record
against Robredo to 2-4.
The German qualifier eased his way through the opening set with limited resistance from his opponent but had to go through a tie breaker round to conclude victory in the end. Robredo was off to a sloppy start in the contest, coughing
a number of unforced errors and spraying plenty of errant strokes all over the court. The Spaniard regrouped a bit in the next set but failed to hold his nerves in the intense pressure situations of the match, letting Kohlschreiber fly away with an emphatic
victory.
The Spaniard had four vital break opportunities in the matchup but cashed in just one of them to finish on the losing side. On the other hand, Kohlschreiber converted all of his three break chances to bag victory and a pass to
the second round of the tournament. Total of 133 points were played in the matchup, with Kohlschreiber pocketing 76 and Robredo lagging behind with 57 to lose the game.
Kohlschreiber will either face the third seeded Czech competitor, Tomas Berdych, or the unseeded Austrian, Jurgen Melzer, in the next encounter for a place in the final eight of the China Open. Berdych and Melzer will go one-on-one
against each other later on Tuesday afternoon.
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