Match report

Philipp Kohlschreiber © Tennistalk.com
BA-CA Tennis Trophy
Semi final
10/11/08 1 2 3 Tot
de  Philipp Kohlschreiber 4 7 6 2 1
fr  Gael Monfils 6 5 7 7 2
Gael Monfils © Tennistalk.com

  • Monfils goes the distance to overcome Kohlschreiber

    10/11/08 7:57 PM | Ricky Dimon
    Gael Monfils needs a third-set tiebreaker to knock out Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Vienna semifinals on Saturday. He will meet Philipp Petzschner for the title.

    In a match that almost seemed like it would never end, Gael Monfils outlasted Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(2) in the semifinals of the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy on Saturday afternoon. It took Monfils two hours and 51 minutes to reach his first ATP final of the season.

    Monfils, who has been in awesome form recently and had played outstanding tennis throughout the week in Vienna, started off a strong again and seemed poise to zoom into the title match. The Frenchman fired five aces in the opening set and one break of serve was enough to take it 6-4.

    Monfils' exquisite serving continued during the second frame of play, but Kohlschreiber took care of his own service games as the set progressed to 5-5. That's when the German, after holding for 6-5, finally struck and converted his first break point of the set to level the match.

    The decisive third turned into more of a baseline battle. Monfils, as he often does, looked exhausted throughout the proceedings, especially so in set three. Whereas the No. 8 seed had played surprisingly aggressive tennis in wins over Radek Stepanek and Fernando Gonzalez, he resorted back to his old ball-retrieving, counter-punching style and let Kohlschreiber dictate play. The plan to make his opponent hit too many balls started to work again in the end as Monfils broke for a 6-5 lead and then held three match points at 40-0. Nonetheless, Kohlschrieber saved them all and shockingly took it to a final tiebreaker.

    That's where Monfils, who has been a part of several huge matches since the French Open, won with his experience. He raced out to a 6-1 lead and finally finished the marathon on his fifth match point with a perfect passing shot.

    Monfils will take on Philipp Petzschner in Sunday's title match. It will be their second career meeting and second in the last two weeks, as Monfils took out Petzschner 7-6(6), 6-4 in the Bangkok quarterfinals.

Tell a friend »

Other articles related to the tournament

Click here fore more articles

Comments


Write comment

You have to be logged in to comment. If you do not have an account, click here to register. It only takes a minute and you'll be redirected back to this page.
Username:

Password: