Philipp Kohlschreiber ousted Nick Kyrios with ease in round two and his reward is a showdown against Novak Djokovic on Monday in Indian Wells. Dominic Thiem and Gilles Simon are also aiming for a place in the last 16.
(1) Novak Djokvic vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber
Nick Kyrgios’ out-of-nowhere title in Acapulco made a possible BNP Paribas Open third-round showdown between the Aussie and Djokovic a mouth-watering proposition, but Kohlschreiber had other ideas; so did Kyrgios, for that matter. Kohlschreiber capitalized on another erratic performance by the 23-year-old to score a 6-4, 6-4 upset. Thus it will be Djokovic vs. Kohlschreiber on Monday for the 10th time in their careers. The world No. 1 is dominating the head-to-head series 8-1 and has won seven in a row since suffering a lone loss at the 2009 French Open via a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 decision. They have not faced each other since the same round of this same Indian Wells event in 2016, when Djokovic got the job done 7-5, 7-5.
Kohlschreiber preceded his win over Kyrgios by clobbering Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 6-0. The 35-year-old German is still just 6-6 in ATP tournament matches this season and he had endured three first-round exits in a row prior to arriving in the desert. Nothing about his current form suggests he can serious challenge Djokovic, who started slow in his opener on Saturday night but picked up the pace to beat Bjorn Fratangelo 7-6(5), 6-2.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
[polldaddy poll=10260739]
(27) Gilles Simon vs. (7) Dominic Thiem
Thiem and Simon are also no strangers to head-to-head matchups; in fact, they have stared each other down even more than Djokovic and Kohlschreiber–10 times, to be exact. This is also a lopsided rivalry and also one that features a current seven-match winning streak. Thiem once trailed 2-1 but he has not lost to Simon since a pair of 2014 setbacks, beating the Frenchman at least once in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 (including three times in 2017 and last season on the red clay of Lyon and the indoor hard courts of Paris).
Losing to Thiem on an indoor hard court in France does not bode well for Simon, but at least he gets another shot on this surface–albeit outdoors–as opposed to clay. And the seventh-seeded Austrian has not been good under any conditions in 2019, not even on the Golden Swing. Thiem at least managed to defeat Jordan Thompson 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday night, while Simon opened with a 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-4 victory over Malek Jaziri. The world No. 29 has advanced to the Indian Wells fourth round three times (including the quarterfinals once) and may be able to do so again at the expense of a favored but vulnerable opponent.
Pick: Simon in 3
[polldaddy poll=10260742]
WWW?
Djoko in 2, Thiem in 3
Kohl w/the upset…in 2…and Thiem in 3.
Uh oh… Kohl upset looking like
^^^ I’m about to be very impressed with your powers of prediction, Scoot. Djokovic looks dreadful. Kohli is playing quite well though, so credit to him.
where is his prediction
And…the complete destruction of the top half is now complete.
Novak obviously not at his best today, but hats off to Kohlschreiber for playing some great tennis and not folding at the end. It’s now anyone’s tournament on that half of the draw to make the final.
And another one bites the dust………the Joker looked out of sorts from the off and then simply unravelled.
Kohls was just too good and he didn’t let up from start to finish.
Nicholas Kyrgios
✔
@NickKyrgios
Lol yeah, something has to be wrong with him right? I lose to Kholi and get absolutely shredded ‘same old Kyrgios’ how about the guy is just good? And he knows how to win matches? Hate this, why we always gotta kiss these guys when they lose 😂
Great quote, nadline. I didn’t actually see that match, but if Kohls played anything like he did against Novak it’s not that surprising that he won.
Where’s Kyrgios now? Still at IW? He’s still following closely the matches it seems, if not he won’t even twit the comment. Well, at least that shows he does care a bit about tennis and also about the criticism he received.
Well done Kohlschreiber, he must have played great.
I will watch the replay in a few minutes.
Novak may be sick or getting there. I only saw match point but fwiw commies said that the Djoker was not looking well. Something going around at IW? I think a few players have complained of illness.
As for NK’s sour grapes, he and Djokovic are both getting what they deserve. Respect is earned not donated. Kohls IS a good player but that’s all he is: good, not great.
Djoko not ill, he played doubles with Foggy and they won the match, now they’re into doubles SF.
I would say he’s just rusty from not playing since the AO, maybe that’s why he played doubles to get some additional match play. When he’s not playing his best, he can be beaten (like in Doha earlier this year), esp when his opponent plays inspired tennis.
Kohlschreiber was good, Djokovic was horrid. Djoko is lucky the score wasn’t 6-4, 6-2
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1105608010049703937
Scoot with the greatest pick of all time?!
i still cant find it
Khols was in the zone, he hardly put a foot wrong. Djokovic just couldn’t hurt him. Djokovic has lost to quite a few unlikely opponents in the past 6 months: Tsitsipas in Canada, Khachanov in Paris, Sasha at the 02, RBA in Doha and now Khols. He is not unbeatable.
Here’s what the man himself says:
“I had to get over it in an hour because I played doubles,” said Djokovic, cracking a smile. “I must admit I was thinking about it. When I hit a good return, I was wondering why this didn’t happen in singles. But it is, I guess, part of the world that we are in, the world of tennis. It’s part of our world, and we just have to bounce back very quickly. And in this case, it’s good for me that I’m participating in doubles here because I get a chance to rectify the wrongs.
“[It’s] not easy mentally to refresh your mindset and concentration and get the right intensity on the court so quickly after a disappointing loss in singles. But it’s not the first time. I have done it in the past. I’m happy that we managed to pull that one through. We beat a very experienced doubles team.”
https://www.atptour.com/en/news/djokovic-fognini-advance-to-indian-wells-2019-doubles-semifinals