No purely German semi-final duel in Vienna (second match after 2 pm): Philipp Kohlschreiber tries to celebrate his second victory in the twelfth match against Alexander Zverev’s conqueror Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Philipp Kohlschreiber is in the semi-final of Vienna for the fourth time:”The long-standing German number one could add a last highlight to a decent 2017 season in the Austrian capital, even though it is not outstanding by its standards. Especially as Kohlschreiber has been based in Kitzbühel for several years and feels particularly comfortable in the Alpine republic. Kohlis “testifies to his victory at the tournament last summer in his home town, but in the final the Augsburg native had only few problems with Joao Sousa.
The underground in Vienna is neither particularly fast nor very slow, it depends on the opponent. Diego Schwartzman tried Kohlschreiber in the quarter-finals, the Argentinean is an expert from the baseline.
This is true for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the future opponent of Kohlschreiber only to a limited extent. The Frenchman often looks for the way forward, especially if he finds the possibility to shape the rally with the forehand. Against Alexander Zverev, Tsonga had a weak start and showed himself to be the more active player in the decisive phases.
Tsonga plays a peculiar year with four tournament victories, most recently in Antwerp on Sunday, but otherwise rather weak results, which at the moment have only placed the Frenchman in 15th place on the world ranking list.
However, the German is looking bleak on the internal balance sheet: Philipp Kohlschreiber has only been able to win one of eleven matches so far – in 2009. Most recently, the two of them met in Vienna almost exactly one year ago, and Tsonga had remained successful in two sets.
Betting provider Interwetten sees Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with a odds of 1.40 as a clear favourite. A victory for Kohlschreiber would result in a quota of 2.75. In the second semi-finals, the bookmakers Lucas Pouille are leading with a odds of 1.65 against Kyle Edmund (2.10) (all odds on Saturday, 08:00 o’ clock).