Roger Federer is now just two wins away from clinching a return trip to the No. 1 world ranking and his Rotterdam campaign will continue against Philipp Kohlschreiber on Thursday. Andrey Rublev and Damir Dzumhur are also hoping to snag a spot in the quarterfinals.
(1) Roger Federer vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber
Federer and Kohlschreiber will be squaring off for the 13th time in their careers when the two veterans clash in the second round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Thursday night. The head-to-head series stands at a perfect 12-0 in favor of Federer, who is 2-0 against Kohlschreiber indoors and 7-0 on hard courts overall. They have faced each other only once since 2015, with the Swiss cruising 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 in round four of the 2017 U.S. Open.
Nothing suggests Kohlschreiber will suddenly turn the tide in this one. The 34-year-old German has slumped to a respectable but unspectacular ranking of No. 36 in the world and he is just 1-3 this season. Kohlschreiber picked up a much-needed victory on on Tuesday, mounting an impressive comeback to beat Karen Khachanov 3-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(5). Federer, who will become No. 1 next Monday if he reaches the semifinals, trounced Ruben Bemelmans 6-1, 6-2 in 47 minutes on Wednesday. The reigning Australian Open champion should be in line for another quick day at the office.
Pick: Federer in 2 losing 5-7 games
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Andrey Rublev vs. Damir Dzumhur
Rublev and Dzumhur will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers on Thursday. All three of their previous meetings have gone Rublev’s way; 6-3, 6-3 on the red clay of Istanbul in 2015, 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 at last summer’s U.S. Open, and 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 shortly thereafter in Shanghai. It has only been full steam ahead for Rublev on the heels of his breakout 2017 campaign, as the 20-year-old Russian finished runner-up in Doha, reached the third round of the Australian Open, and is coming off a quarterfinal performance in Montpellier. The world No. 34 improved to 9-3 this season by beating Montpellier champion Lucas Pouille 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday.
Dzumhur also enjoyed by far his best year on tour in 2017, highlighted by the first two ATP titles of his career in back-to-back months in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Maintaining momentum has been tougher for the 29th-ranked Bosnian than for Rublev, as the former is a modest 5-4 in 2018 with a couple of disappointing and lopsided losses. Dzumhur also capitalized on a fatigued opponent in his Rotterdam opener, getting the best of Sofia runner-up Marius Copil 6-4, 6-4. Based on both head-to-head history and current form, a clear edge in this one goes to Rublev.
Pick: Rublev in 2
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WYG?
Rublev in three and fed in two losing 5-7 games
IG Federer in 2 and
Either in 3 sets as rublev won his 3 H2H’s when Dzumhur was not hot.
Dzumhur raised his level in the last quarter of 2017. Most top players have a slow start in 2018 as they were tired playing a lot besides taking adequate rest in the winter to recover. The same is the case with Dzumhur. With 9 matches under his belt in 2018, it is time for Dzumhur to start playing better and better and go deeper into tournaments.
This will be a 3 setter mostly and either can win. Giving 51% chance for Dzumhur to win as he is the more experienced and tricky opponent.
Rublev struggles against tricky opponents and mentally breaks down when in small intervels when he finds the going tough, which will be taken advantage of by Dzumhur to tighten the screw further on a mentally weak Rublev and win.
My main bet mostly will be the over besides a little on Dzumhur +1.5 sets. Rublev can win ONY if he is mentally strong and doesn’t panic when he gets out-tricked by the foxy Dzumhur and serves strong to maintain 90% of his service games else he will be shown the door by the Bosnian quickly! Rublev needs to keep his FH well oiled and ensure that it works to get a lot of winners else he will find it difficult to win.
Tough to beat Roger here. He is on a mission to make his girls happy … http://www.138mph.com/tennis-roger-federer-wants-to-make-his-girls-happy-and-medvedev-meets-herbert-and-dimitrov-to-face-krajinovic-at-the-rotterdam-open/
Holy crapoli! Federer BARELY squeaked through that first tie-break!! I didn’t watch it, but I just happened to check the score and it was 8-8 in the tie break. Fed took it 10-8, but now I really wanna know if Kohls just served really well, or if Fed just couldn’t convert break points?
Hey- you can only beat someone so many consecutive times before they eventually beat you right lol?? I’d be very surprised if it happened, but could we be headed for “Donskoy Round 2: The Kohlschreiber Version”?? 🙂
It looks like Kohls defended his 2nd serve really well in that first set. He only made 55% of his first serves, but he won 71% of his second serve points. And Fed only had one break point, but couldn’t convert it. Fed was almost untouchable on his own serve, but apparently just couldn’t get a good look at Kohls’ 2nd serves.
Damn, Kohls saving break points like it’s going out of style in the 2nd set! Saved 3 to hold in his first two service games in second set.
Just read that Fed saves two set points in the tiebreak. Kohls is taking it to him today.
Kohlschreiber is playing great, especially serving well. Roger is really having troubles with his ROS. For some reason he has reverted to the slice return, which is giving Philipp lots of time.
Fed was lucky to win the first set (Kohl led 5-2 in the TB) and he’s in a dogfight here.
Always liked Kohlschreiber’s game, and when he plays like this you wonder why he hasn’t been a top 10 player his whole career. If he could serve consistently like he is today, he probably would have been. He hits with surprising power for someone his size.
Fed’s *average* service game duration today: 1 minute 36 seconds! He’s serving great, needless to say.
That’s one thing about Fed of late- when he has close matches, it’s often nothing to do with his serve. I think a big part of his older-age success is his serve. It’s always been the basis of his game, but it’s more key that ever with his 36 year old body.
I agree, Kevin. The BH gets talked about more, but the larger racquet has really improved the serve has well.
Fed just could not win a break point to save his life. Finally, on the 5th break point of the set, Kohls gifted it to him with a double fault. 😛
Kohl finally breaks. First 2 double faults of the match gives Fed the break. Kohl was absolutely crushing FH winners in that game, so it’s a shame it ended that way.
That was some great playing from Kohls. But like all the solid journeymen who just can’t break through the top guys, he just is never able to elevate his game in high-pressure moments. Obviously much of that is related to how good the Big 4 guys are in those pressure-filled moments, but losing the first set when he was up 6-4 in the tiebreak and then double-faulting to let Fed serve for the match are why a guy like Kohls has hardly ever beaten the Big 4 out of a million matches… He did well to get to 6-4 in the tiebreak, and to save all those 4 break points in the second set, but in the absolute MOST important moments he just couldn’t get it done.
Agreed. The DF’s were just letting the pressure get to him, maybe a bit tired. He really threw the kitchen sink at Fed, and (I thought) forced Fed back to some old playing patterns that aren’t as effective. Roger did play some clutch tennis to save those set points, but he wasn’t firing as usual. A lot of that was the pressure Kohl was putting on him.
Wasn’t it Kohl who bageled Nadal last year in a first set? He’s obviously capable of playing like he’s on fire. But you’re right that he just doesn’t bring it in the biggest points.
Yeah, Kohl has at least made matches close against Fed, Rafa, and Novak. In 2015, he came sooo close to beating Fed in Halle, losing in a third set tiebreak, and then pushed Fed to three sets later that year in Basel. As you mentioned, there was that weird bagel set against Rafa that still confuses me. And probably the biggest win of his career was in 2009 at Roland Garros against Novak. He’s been able to throw the kitchen sink at those guys like he did today, but he’s just never quite able to get over the finish line.
As far as “journeymen” go, he is definitely up there. He’s won a lot of smaller tournaments if I’m not mistaken.
Welp, it’s official- the only thing standing in the way of the ATP World Tour having a 36 1/2 year-old world #1 is Robin Haase… Although it would take an epic fail by Federer to not win, I will say that there are better opponents for him to face on an indoor hard court. They’ve only played twice before, and only one time in the last 5 years. It was the Montreal semis last year, which Fed won in straights. At least Haase took him to a close tiebreak in the second set there. If I’m not mistaken, I think they are actually friends off the court, and know each other well through the player’s counsel.
Haase will beat Federer
He certainly could! Although I would only give him about a 10% chance, at best, of actually pulling off the upset. What drives you to say that a journeyman like Haase “will” win? It sounds like you mean to say you WANT Haase to win. 🙂