Philipp Kohlschreiber rallies past Lukas Rosol into the semi-finals – Bet-at-home Cup 2012
Top seeded German player, Philipp Kohlschreiber, booked his place in his fifth semi-final of the season by ousting the world number 97, Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic, in three sets 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarter-finals at the Bet-at-home
Cup in Kitzbuhel, Austria on Thursday.
The German took one hour and 43 minutes to claim a tough win over his Czech rival.
Kohlschreiber lost three of his four previous semi-finals at the Heineken Cup, Open Sud de France and Gerry Weber Open at the hands of Olivier Rochus, Tomas Berdych and Tommy Haas respectively. However, he went on to win the title
in Munich, beating Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the final to capture the BMW Open crown. Kohlschreiber, who has a 35-16 win/loss record in this season so far, gave an impressive performance at the Wimbledon, where he lost a four set thriller against French player,
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the quarter-finals.
Coming back to his latest match against Rosol, Kohlschreiber did not allow the Czech contender to settle down in the contest, snatching a break in the very first game and winning his subsequent serve to grab a 2-0 lead. The German
star retained his advantage throughout the set, serving it out at 6-4.
Rosol came roaring in the second set, as he captured opening three games to race to a 3-0 lead. The gap remained at same level between both of these players till 2-5 but then Kohlschreiber lost his serve again in the eighth to
go down 2-6.
In contrast to the first two sets, Kohlschreiber and Rosol began steadily in the decider, as they did not allow each other to break serve in the opening eight games to square off the proceedings at 4-4. The German contender played
extreme attackingly after that, hitting a number of fore hand winners to win eight of the following nine points and seal it 6-4.
The best part of Kohlschreiber’s game was his huge first serves, with the help of which he banged in 13 aces and captured 30 of the 39 points. The German fared satisfactorily on the second ones, converting 21 of the 33 of them
into points. The Altstaetten, Switzerland resident committed a couple of double faults but this performance was still better than his opponent, who made eight horrible ones.
Kohlschreiber will play the world number 99, Filippo Volandri of Italy, in the semi-finals. Volandri ousted Brazil’s Rogerio Dutra Silva in the quarters.
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