In the end it was Philipp Kohlschreiber who kept ahead of Joao Sousa 3:6, 6:4, 6:4. But he had to toil himself. "That wasn't good tennis", the German Davis Cup player stated, who really was lucky in the end to get to the Round of 16 because his opponant also didn't have a good day.
Philipp Kohlschreiber got to a good start. The first six points were his. After that he made far too many mistakes, though. Joao Sousa really only had to wait for him to make mistakes. The German was the more active player, but his faults were of a high number, too. So it was the Portuguese who won the first set 6:3 after 42 minutes.
After that Philipp Kohlschreiber served safely. In the second and third round he didn't lose any of his services. Joao Sousa on the other hand was facing a break in each round, so that the German could gain his forth match point after just two hours. "That was quite a difficult piece of work. But there are days like this when it doesn't seem to work. At least in the second set I served better, but of course good tennis is something else. It was a lucky win overall for me", Philipp Kohlschreiber analyzed spot on. In the third duel with the Portuguese the German was able to leave the court as a winner.
It could mean a duel with his Davis Cup team-colleague Alexander Zverev in the round of 16. But first, he has to win his opening match against the Italien Paolo Lorenzi.
