Philipp Kohlschreiber overpowers Stephane Bohli in the opening round – Heineken Open 2012
In a battle of two 28-year-old veterans, eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber rallied past Swiss Stephane Bohli in a three set nail-biter at the Heineken Open 2012 on Tuesday. He registered a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory over the Geneva
native to book a spot in the round of 16 at this leading up tournament towards the Australian Open 2012, first of the four Grand Slam events.
World number 42, Kohlschreiber, quickly made on the winning track and drew the first blood in the opening game to take the initial lead. Regardless of squaring the scores at 4-4, he broke the Swiss serve again in the ninth
game and then kept his serve to bag the opener with a 6-4 win.
The Swiss resident, Kohlschreiber, stepped up his game again in the final set and after dusting away both breakpoints he came across, the German sealed the decider by winning six games to four. He cashed in the only break
opportunity in the seventh game and clicked an acceptable 15 out of 22 points on his equal first serve share of 61 percent.
Summing up the German’s performance at this one hour and 51 minutes long match, Kohlschreiber hit 13 aces, blocked four out of six breakpoints he faced and capitalised on three out of seven break opportunities. He then finished
the match with 90 points as compared to Bohli’s 84 points.
Both stars were clashing each other for the first time and played their best tennis in this match. Bohli, ranked 218th in the South African Airways ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour
Rankings, found his rhythm in the second set. He remained focused throughout the set and pulled out the equaliser after converting a break chance in the last game. He formulated a much higher first serve share of 71 percent as compared to the German’s 31 percent
and manifested spectacular 18 out of 20 points on it.
Next in line for the 2008 champion, Kohlschreiber is the 19-year-old Ryan Harrison. He overpowered Sam Querrey in an all-American wild card clash in an hour and nine minutes long match.
Fifth seeded South African, Kevin Anderson will join the Swiss towards the exits. He suffered a 3-6, 3-6 shock at the hands of French, Adrian Mannarino, in their second meeting. The South African, who enjoyed his career best
season in 2011, displayed dismal performance and sought no break opportunity throughout the 64 minutes marathon. He defended only two out of five breakpoints he encountered and was eventually ousted from the tournament.
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