Philipp Kohlschreiber ousts Lukas Rosol in the third round – Wimbledon Championships 2012
Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber downed Rafael Nadal’s conqueror, Lukas Rosol, in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(6) in the round of 32 of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Club on Saturday. Kohlschreiber required only
an hour and 37 minutes to topple his Czech opponent in a one-sided contest.
Kohlschreiber captured an initial breakthrough in the third game and held his following serve to grab a 3-1 advantage. The German struck again in the seventh and capitalised on the double advantage to seal it 6-2.
In the second set, both players won their serve in the first four games to equalise the proceedings at 2-2. Kohlschreiber pumped up the accelerator afterwards, as he snatched four of the subsequent five games and triumphed 6-3.
Unlike the first two sets, there was a close competition in the third one, as none of the two players dropped his serve and took the score to 6-6, forcing a tie-breaker. Kohlschreiber made an ideal start, as he won opening four
points to race to a 4-0 lead but Rosol clawed his way back to level the score at 6-6. However, his effort got wasted, as Kohlschreiber bagged two consecutive points to close it 7-6(6).
Rosol, who is ranked 100th on the ATP World Tour, sent a shocking wave in the world of tennis, as he created one of the biggest surprises in the history of the sport by toppling 11-time Grand Slam winner and current
world number two, Rafael Nadal, in the last match.
Giving an interview after the match, Kohlschreiber said that he was hoping that Rosol do not deliver the similar sort of performance as he did against the second seed Nadal. He was lucky that the Czech opponent was not at his best
in the conest and it helped him a lot to take the better of him in the end.
The German shared his strategy to counter his opponent’s extremely attacking style of play. He stated, “Every time if he hit a very strong ball, I tried to slice it back, keep it short. He doesn’t like to move too much into the
court. Everything I saw in the Nadal game, I used. I figured out the perfect tactic.”
Kohlschreiber will now take on comeback star, Brian Baker of USA, in the last 16.
He said, talking about his next rival, "It's a great chance for both of us, I think. If you play in the last 16 and you're not facing Federer, Nadal, Murray, whatever, the big guys, it's a great chance to reach the quarter-finals,
for sure. He's played three good matches here, so I think it's going to be a tough one."
This will be the first meeting between Kohlschreiber and Rosol on the ATP World Tour.
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