Rafael Nadal is one win away from a potential U.S. Open showdown against Roger Federer. Standing in Nadal’s way of the quarterfinals on Monday is Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Rafael Nadal and Philipp Kohlschreiber will be squaring off for the 11th time in their careers at the ATP level when they clash in round four of the U.S. Open on Monday night.
Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 9-1, including 5-0 on hard courts. Kohlschreiber’s lone victory came in their only grass-court encounter last summer in Halle, just after Nadal had captured a seventh French Open title (the German prevailed 6-3, 6-4). They most recently faced each other this spring on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo, where Nadal cruised 6-2, 6-4.
Normally a fast hard court would be thought of as a decent surface for Kohlschreiber in this matchup, but not so at the moment. Nadal is undefeated on hards in 2013 with titles in Indian Wells, Montreal, and Cincinnati. The second-ranked Spaniard is not looking back in New York, with straight-set victories so far this fortnight over Ryan Harrison, Rogerio Dutra Silva, and Ivan Dodig.
Many expected this to be a rematch of the Cincinnati final between Nadal and John Isner, but Kohlschreiber put an end to that talk on Saturday. Following wins over Colin Altamirano and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, the world No. 25 took out Isner in a fourth-set tiebreaker. Kohlschreiber is now a solid 26-17 for the season.
This may be Nadal’s toughest test of the tournament to date given Kohlschreiber’s form, but Nadal’s heavy topspin should wear down his opponent’s one-handed backhand before things get too interesting.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 11-13 games
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Agree with your pick Ricky. However, important to note that all of Rafa’s wins over Khols on HC have included a dropped set on Rafa’s part so it would not surprise me if Khols broke Rafa’s serve during the match.
Rafa for the win!
With you on that one RITB. Kohlbi is a stubborn player capable of holding his own against many of the higher ranked players. Taking an early set off Rafa is certainly not out of the question unless Rafa comes out with all guns blazing. Hope he has his service under control for tonight.
I am beginning to suspect Rafa’s on-court energy “travels”, i.e. it seeps across the net to his opponents! How else to explain how all of Rafa’s opponents get transformed into tennis demons when they play Rafa? So, fully expect Khols to up his game and make Rafa play……..
Unless one person has voted twice there are two jokers voting Kohlbi will win.
Be focused, be confident, be strong, be brave, Rafa! Avoid ‘the things getting too interesting’!
Reblogged this on Tennis Abides and commented:
The Grand Stand it the gold standard
Eventhough Kohl looked pretty good vs Isner on Sat, I think that Rafa will dominate him today.
I have a bad feeling about this one 🙁
Shire, you’re already feeling sorry for Khols?!!!!!……….hahaha!!
Vamos, Rafa!! WE know you can dot it!!!
Kohls has hit 31 backhand winners in the tournament so far and this is the highest number of backhand winners hit by anyone ! He is tied with wawrinka at 31 winners apiece
Shows you how aggressive his backhand can be despite being single handed. I think this is really good practice for rafa with roger well in sights. Federer will also try to be very aggressive with his backhand against rafa so this is the perfect practice.
I am waiting to see how rafa serves and returns ! I am fully satisfied with the baseline game… ah and using a little more of backhand DTL would be sweet too 😀
Nadal in 3 !
Nadal in 3. Kohls was exceptional against Isner because Isner moves well for his height, but he did not have to deal with Rafa’s heavy topspin.
when is play expected to resume?
I’m going to this match. I only bought the evening ticket. How early could I get in? Shir, please don’t make me nervous. I’m usually tensed enough watching Rafa play.
Wow, 2.5 matches to go on AA court due to rain delays. Does that mean the 7PM evening match won’t start until much later? Or they’ll move a match other courts? Now I don’t know when I should go to Flushing. It’s an hour subway ride from Grand Central to Flushing. Anyone who has experienced rain delay before? Please advice.
I think this could be three tight sets or Kohls could get one set if Rafa loses his serve. I do expect Rafa to raise his level of play for this match. He knows that this is a quality players who has the game to make it a match.
There is no way I see Rafa losing this match. I have no idea why anyone would be worried about him not winning. I said that I think Rafa will finally be tested a bit and that’s good for him. He needs a bit of a challenge at this point to get ready for Fed.
They have started to dry the courts. You can watch this on LiveScoreHunter.
Damn rain! They have to relocate matches to other courts surely otherwise the evening sessions could be compromised/delayed? Last thing I want is Rafa starting late and only getting to his hotel at dawn!
I’m in the city. It’s drizzling outside. Flushing is one hour away so it’s hard to gauge its weather. I just called the box office. The guy said the director would make the call. He said usually it would only affect the evening match slightly. We’ll see. I originally plan to get there by 5. Now I don’t need to hurry.
Unfortunately it’s raining again!
According to a weather forecast, there will be no rain after 4 PM.
http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/graph/Flushing+NY+USNY0504:1:US
It’s raining here in the city too. I don’t think they can finish 2.5 matches between 4PM and 7PM. Hmm…when should I go to the stadium?
My sister called me from Brooklyn to tell me that the weather was bad. It wasn’t raining there yet but she could see the dark skies. She was out walking and I told her that there was already a rain delay at Flushing Meadows. She said they predicted thunder storms and rain.
I hope that the weather forecast posted by augusta is correct. But I have no idea how they are going to fit in all the matches from the day session as well as the night ones.
The weather forecast has been updated – thunder storms until 5.15 PM. (:
I meant 🙁