Sixth seed Philipp Kohlshcreiber will face Paul-Henri Mathieu, the first qualifier to reach the Generali Open final, for the title on Saturday.
Looking ahead to the championship match, Kohlschreiber said, “I beat him twice this year. But that doesn’t mean anything. He’s a former No. 12 and celebrated a great victory against Almagro today. I always play my best tennis at German-speaking tournaments and hope that this will also be the case in the final. I have a great relationship with the organisers here and it’s a pleasure to be in the final.
Kitzbuhel resident Kohlschreiber ended top seed Dominic Thiem’s 10-match winning streak, knocking out last year’s finalist 6-0, 7-6(6) in 89 minutes on Friday afternoon. The German will now look to capture his fifth ATP World Tour title, and make up for his loss to Robin Haase in the 2012 final.
“I played close to my limit in the first set and was very happy with my tactics,” said Kohlschreiber, who warmed up for the match with Thiem’s younger brother, 15-year-old Moritz, for the second time this week. “I moved him around and he didn’t serve as well as usually.”
Earlier in the day, 33-year-old Mathieu, who is currently No. 109 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, recorded his third win in four meetings against Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 6-3 in 75 minutes.
“I am happy to go through today,” said Mathieu.” It was a tough match. I feel good to have reached another final. I have had a lot of difficult moments in the past, so it validates that I can do it. I work hard.”
Mathieu advanced to his ninth ATP World Tour final and his first since 2009 Hamburg.
(*Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/kitzbuhel-2015-friday-mathieu-thiem-kohlschreiber )
Topics: Atp World Tour, Generali Open, Kitzbühel, Paul Henri Mathieu, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Sports, Tennis News
#TENNIS NEWS – PHILIPP #KOHLSCHREIBER VS PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU IN #Kitzbuhel- http://t.co/qAmlB55rbw @PHMofficiel #GeneraliOpen #ATP