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10/28/08 11:48 PM | Ricky Dimon
David Ferrer needs at least one win this week to have any chance of qualifying for the year-end Masters Cup. He will have his hands full, however, in his opener against Philipp Kohlschreiber.
David Ferrer has been in a brutal slump recently, but he still has time to turn it all around and qualify for the Masters Cup with a strong showing in Paris. He needs to get off to a hot start, however, with tough opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber on the other side of the net in Ferrer's second-round opener.
The two players have met on five previous occasions and Ferrer leads the head-to-head series 3-2. They have squared off twice already this season, splitting the matches, although Kohlschreiber took the one on hard courts. Kolschreiber has a 2-1 edge overall on hard courts, but none of the encounters have come indoors.
Indoor hard courts are most beneficial to Kohlschreiber, who is in the midst of an up-and-down 2008 campaign. The German enjoyed a blistering start to his season by winning the Chennai title and then stunnning Andy Roddick in an epic Australian Open clash en route to the fourth round. He has done nothing of the sort since then, although he has mixed in a few stellar results amidst the disappointing ones. Kohlschreiber finished runner-up in Halle this summer, reached the quarterfinals of the Masters Series Cincinnati, and recently made it to the semis in Vienna. The No. 30 player in the world took apart Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 6-4 in the Paris first round.
In Ferrer, Kohlschreiber meets another opponent who started off the season strong but has since tailed off considerably. Ferrer reached the Australian Open quarterfinals and appeared in two clay-court finals this spring, winning one. The No. 5 player in the world also made it to the quarterfinals at the Masters Series Monte-Carlo and in Roland Garros, and then won a surprise grass-court title in 's-Hertogenbosch leading up to Wimbledon. Since the start of the U.S. Open Series, however, Ferrer has been in dismal form. Lowlights included a first-round exit to Janko Tipsarevic at the Olympics and losses in his opening matches at the Masters Series Cincinnati, Beijing, and the Masters Series Madrid.
Is it too late for Ferrer to regain momentum and clinch a Shanghai berth? The answer to that question will most likely be up to Kohlschreiber, not Ferrer. Kohlschreiber has more weapons than his opponent and he will be able to dictate play with his lethal one-handed backhand. The Spaniard, meanwhile, spends most of his time playing incredible defense, which is easier to do on slower surfaces. The Paris courts are not playing too fast, but Ferrer's lack of confidence and the Masters Cup pressure could be too much for him to overcome. Look for Kohlschreiber to pull off the upset in three sets.
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Philipp Kohlschreiber 
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