Philipp Kohlschreiber overpowers Olivier Rochus in the opening round – Open Sud de France 2012
Rated at number 33 in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings, Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber ousted Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the opening round of the Open Sud de France on Tuesday. The seventh seed German took one hour and 25 minutes
to wrap up the two-setter with the final scores of 6-1, 6-4, to move into the round of 16 of the tournament.
World number 51, Rochus, utterly failed to pose a decent resistance in the contest and proved to be easy bait for the belligerent German. Kohlschreiber avenged his most recent defeat at the hands of the Belgian and levelled the head-to-head series at 2-2.
Rochus was victorious in the semi-final round in Auckland last month, sealing the encounter at 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4 but couldn’t repeat the similar feat on Tuesday. The unseeded Belgian was brutally manhandled by Kohlschreiber in the contest and proved to be a
total mismatch for the seventh seed German.
Kohlschreiber banged in 11 aces and secured 26 out of 31 first serve points en route to victory. Four cracking serve breaks from the German proved sufficient for him to conclude the convincing win. He went berserk in the opening set to register a breadstick
and carried on with his winning impetus in the following set to come out as the winner.
Rochus’ sloppy start in the opening set was fully capitalised by his German opponent. Kohlschreiber went on a five game killing spree right up and nailed two successive serve breaks to rocket away to 5-0 in no time. He secured 12 out of 14 first serve points
and successfully defended the two break points he faced from Rochus to sustain his lead. The German served out of the opener in a dominating fashion to lead 1-0 in the match.
After dropping the opening set in a dismal manner, Rochus finally got some momentum rolling in the following set. He held his serve to reach 3-3 before Kohlschreiber stung another break point, only to be broken in the very next game. The scores were levelled
once again at 4-4 and it seemed as if the set was heading towards a tie-breaker round. The German nailed another timely serve break in the ninth game and then held his serve to finish off the match in the following 10 minutes’ play.
Kohlschreiber will take on Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France in the second round to compete for a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
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