Kohlschreiber Stuns Nadal In Halle QFs; Haas Beats Berdych
Halle, Germany
by ATP Staff | 15.06.2012
Original link: ( http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/06/24/Halle-Friday-Kohlschreiber-Ousts-Nadal-Berdych-Faces-Haas.aspx )
Defending Halle champion Philipp Kohlschreiber stunned top seed Rafael Nadal at the Gerry Weber Open Friday, winning their quarter-final clash 6-3, 6-4 to secure his first victory in nine meetings with the Spaniard.
“From the name, from the match for sure it’s the best victory. He’s won eleven Grand Slam titles and many other titles. So, it’s really great,” said Kohlschreiber. “I’m also realistic that he didn’t have his best match or his best day, but for myself, I played maybe one of the best matches here on grass so far.”
Kohlschreiber won 27 of his 30 first serve points, and saved all three break points he faced. He broke Nadal once in each set to advance in 86 minutes, registering his first win in 12 attempts against a World No. 2.
“Rafa is the most competitive player on the Tour. He hates to lose. So, obviously he tried everything,” Kohlschreiber said. “In the last game he was fighting a lot. I was very happy of course with the performance. I didn’t get nervous which was also very important. Basically, I had a really great day from the beginning to the end and of course we know that Rafa came here very late. He didn’t have so much time to prepare on grass.”
The eighth-seeded German improved his record in Halle to a 22-6 mark, and is through to the semi-finals for the fifth time. He is bidding to join Roger Federer and Yevgeny Kafelnikov as the only players to successfully defend their crown in Halle. The tournament is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
The loss for Nadal halted his 13-match win streak, which saw him triumph over Novak Djokovic in both the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title match in Rome, and this past Monday’s Roland Garros final. His previous defeat came to Fernando Verdasco in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
“Why I lost today is easy, he played much better than me,” admitted Nadal. “My movements were not good to play against a player, who hits every ball hard, aggressive. He was playing the ball very fast. So, I need a little bit more time. But playing against him here in my second match on grass only having a few hours of practice was very difficult today.”
In the semi-finals, Kohlschreiber will take on countryman Tommy Haas. In a battle of former champions, wild card Haas upset No. 3 seed and 2007 titlist Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Haas, the winner in 2009, won 22 of his 24 first serve points in the final set, and broke the Czech at 6-5 to clinch the win in two hours and five minutes. The two were meeting for the first time in six years.
“I think that everybody who saw the match saw and knew that it was important to hold serve. I think I served well but not as good as he did,” said Haas. “When his first serve was really good I could hardly do anything, even if I did play the ball, he reacted with his forehand and put me under pressure.
“My task was to hold serve and I did that quite well in the third set. I think it was deuce only once. In the last game when I thought we’d have to play a tie-break, he gave me two double faults.”
The German will play his fourth semi-final at the event, and is aiming to reach his first ATP World Tour final since capturing his 12th career title three years ago in Halle.
Topics: Gerry Weber Open, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Rafael Nadal
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