Philipp Kohlschreiber wins title as Philipp Petzschner retires – Gerry Weber Open 2011
In an all German final, Philipp Kohlschreiber clinched his third ATP title at Gerry Weber Open, an opening sensation of grass court season at Halle, Germany. He was leading 7-6(5), 2-0 when his compatriot, Philipp Petzschner was
forced to retire due to a lower back injury and awarded Kohlschreiber the trophy on Sunday.
After one hour of solid display of tennis by both 27-year-old Germans, world number 49 Kohlschreiber earned a straight set retirement victory after his countryman, ranked 22 places below him, suffered a lower back injury and was
forced to call off the match.
He was facing Petzschner for the fourth time and after earning this victory at Gerry Weber Stadion, Kohlschreiber not only took revenge for his loss to Petzschner at Dubai earlier this season but also extended the lead in their
head-to-head series by 3-1.
Both German veterans played their best tennis in the opening set and levelled each other out when one took the lead.
Kohlschreiber found a breakpoint opportunity at 5-5 but he failed to convert it to his advantage and took the set to a tie-breaker. He took a 6-4 lead and later maintained his lead to bag the opener with a 7-6(5) win.
The winning German clobbered a higher first serve share of 75 percent as compared to his rival’s 63 percent and registered a superb 81 percent win on it. He sugar coated this set by smacking seven aces and producing fewer double
faults.
Petzschner, on the other hand, received treatment after the set ended. He managed to stay in game and went for the second set. The injured German lost an early serve and was trailing 0-2 when he felt severe pain in lower back region
and called off the day to avoid severe damage.
Unhappy Petzschner said, "This was a day to celebrate German tennis. I don’t think it would have been a problem for me had I lost in a tight match, I would have been proud of my performance. But to give up such a final, and then
here, that’s incredibly bitter."
Beaming Kohlschreiber has had a poor season so far but after clinching the title, he found his winning ways back. He downed seventh seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, defending champion Lleyton Hewitt and third seeded French
Gael Monfils in straight sets en route to the final.
"I think it was a fantastic week," said Kohlschreiber. "Every day I played a great match. Of course, the final ended quite short, but overall the week was great and to win in Germany is fantastic. It ended so quickly. So I wasn’t
really feeling like a winner, but it was the best time for a victory. "
A former top twenty-five player, Kohlschreiber earned 250 South African Airways ATP Ranking points and €114,750 in prize money. He won for the first time in this tournament after losing to Roger Federer in the final in 2008.
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