Philipp Kohlschreiber upsets Richard Gasquet in the quarter-finals – Open Sud de France 2012
Seventh seed, Philipp Kohlschreiber, surprised everyone after stunning the French star, Richard Gasquet, in a three set nail biter at the Open Sud de France 2012 on Friday. He clobbered a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the world number 16 to advance into the
semi-finals at this hard court tournament taking place at the Arena Montpellier in Montpellier, France from January 28th to February 5th.
The German booming star put up an exceptional display of tennis to oust the fourth seed for the first time in their third meeting. He not only took revenge from his loss at the Gstaad ATP event in 2006 but also secured a spot in the final four. After earning
this success, Kohlschreiber lowered the trail in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head2Head series by 1-2 against the French.
"I came out with a good start. I had the right tactic," the German commented about his match. "Maybe he was not 100 per cent in the match in the beginning, so I felt I had a little bit of chance. I put a lot of pressure, I played very, very high quality
tennis, and overall I served very well. It was a very good match for me."
Ranked 33rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Kohlschreiber went on a five games rampage after the local star held his serve in the opening game. He then kept his serve to nil in the last game and pocketed the opener with a
6-2 win.
With the help from the local crowd, Gasquet re-focused and got back on track in the second set. The French brushed off the only breakpoint he faced to keep entire serves and got the breakthrough in the sixth game to seal the equaliser by winning six games
to three.
The match was standing on a knife edge and the contestant who earned the glory was the German ace. Kohlschreiber sought his momentum again in this final set and earned the coveted break in the second game. Later, he held remaining serves without facing any
barrier and clinched the decider with a 6-3 score line.
All in all, the German played his best tennis in this epic battle. He fired 18 aces and manipulated a better first serve share of 70 percent as compared to Gasquet’s 66 percent. Kohlschreiber then finished the match with an amazing 80 points as opposed to
the French’s 68.
Next challenge for the German is the world number seven, Tomas Berdych, who dumped a local star, Nicolas Mahut, in straight sets to reach this spot.
"It’s going to be another semi-final, which is a solid week so far, but I don’t want to end up with that, so try my best and try to go through," the Czech number one said about his upcoming match.
Kohlschreiber has lost six of his last seven encounters against the top seed. He needs to maintain his intensity and improve his game in order to overpower the high flying Czech. The German should also improve his blocking skills and should focus on hitting
more aces like he did in this match in order to outclass Berdych. Furthermore, the Swiss resident needs to focus on his returns and should convert more break opportunities to his advantage to inch towards his fourth career title.
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