Philipp Kohlschreiber shows his best tennis of the year at the ATP-Masters in Indian Wells. In the round of sixteen, the German Davis Cup player will face Pierre-Hugues Herbert (from 9 p. m. in the LIVETICKER) against whom he has a 3:1 record.
To praise Marin Cilic from the wrist – this requires youthful exuberance. Or that age wisdom that Philipp Kohlschreiber paired with his incredible feeling for ball and tennis.
6:4 and 6:4 against the finalist of the Australian Open 2018, which reads as confidently as the Augsburg native, who has been living in Kitzbühel for a few years, designed the match. Good: In the second set, Cilic was much better at the game than at the start, but Kohlschreiber showed no nerves in tricky situations, especially not as a serve.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert is a man who has shown his great championship in earlier years rather in doubles (this expertise was not lost to Herbert), but who has already thrown two sets out of the tournament with Gilles Müller and Gael Monfils in the course of the Indian Wells competition. Even if his countryman had to give up because of an injury.
The duel between Kohlschreiber and Herbert has been fought four times so far, but the Frenchman only had one victory – in Wimbledon 2016 in round one. At that time it was certainly a particular nuisance for Kohlschreiber, who is known to be very comfortable on grass. Most recently, the two of them played together in Vienna in the autumn of 2017, and the long-standing German number one prevailed in two sets.
The year 2017 did not start well for Philipp Kohlschreiber. He didn’t make it to the Australian tournaments in Sydney and Melbourne, where he lost in the first match. In Rotterdam followed the first win of the season against Karen Khachanov, followed by a very formidable match against Roger Federer, in which Kohlschreiber could have won at least one set. Must. Against Cilic in Indian Wells, the exceptional player pulled through to the match point.
Good news for the German Davis Cup boss Michael Kohlmann, who is currently in Irving with Maximilian Torterer at the ATP-Challenger. For the game in Brisbane, Kohlschreiber had signed off early for obvious reasons. And especially early.
Just as early on, however, the 34-year-old declared his willingness a few days ago to be available for the German team at the meeting with the Spaniards in Valencia at the beginning of April. Especially since Kohlschreiber’s best surface, the red ash, is played there.
Kohlschreiber described the match against Herbert in an interview after his success against Cilic as one of two “old fashioned” players, in the best sense of the word. And because Philipp Kohlschreiber is a man of the old school he will certainly only look at this match. Even if after that, there could be a task similar to that against Marin Cilic: Juan Martin del Potro.
Here the single panel in Indian Wells