Philipp Kohlschreiber rallies past Andrey Golubev in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters
World number 32 German, Philipp Kohlschreiber bounced back to win against the world number 39 Kazakh, Andrey Golubev in a nail biter three setter on Sunday. He registered a 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4 win over the Kazakhstani to advance to the second round in the 2011 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France.
The 27-year-old German last met the Kazakhstani at the Hopman Cup ATP Exhibition in January last year where he lost in straight sets. However he entered a completely different person at Monte Carlo Country Club and took his revenge by outplaying the 23-year-old Kazakhstani in a three set thriller.
The German hasn’t had much progress this season and the furthest he reached was the quarter-final at Auckland before losing to top seeded Spaniard David Ferrer in troublesome three sets. He is eyeing to reach far in this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event as he displayed his magnificent skills in the first round after making an epic comeback from one set down to overpower the Kazakhstani.
In the opening set, Golubev, who had a poor record this season being ousted in first or second rounds in all the tournaments he entered, made quick in roads as he found eight breakpoint opportunities and converted two to his advantage. He exchanged an early break and registered an amazing 81 percent win on his slightly lower first serve share. In addition to this, the Kazakh had a much better return points winning percentage and the breakpoint he converted to his advantage in the twelfth game made him clinched the set with a 7-5 win.
Kohlschreiber was shaky in the second set as well. He committed more double faults and had a lower first serve share of 57 percent as compared to Golubev’s 65 percent. However, he earned a convincing 72 percent win on it and saved two out of three breakpoints he faced. Despite a low par performance, the German managed to find five breakpoint opportunities and converted one to his advantage to square the score and took the set to tiebreaker. Kohlschreiber eventually won the equalizer 7-6(6).
The German carried his winning ways in the decider as he held his opening serve with his massive forehands. He lost his serve once but converted both breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to win the seal the set with a 6-4 victory. He had a convincing 64 percent win on his lower first serve share and played much better than Golubev.
The German veteran will next face 2nd seeded Swiss Roger Federer who is in great form and recently reached semi-finals at Miami. Kohlschreiber needs to practice much harder and save all the breakpoints he faces to advance further in the tournament.
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