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Zverev ousts Kohlschreiberb as Cilic downs de Minaur

By Jacob Akindele
03 September 2018   |   2:59 am
Germany’s Phillip Kohlschreiber achieved the first major upset in the men’s draw when he defeated compatriot and fourth seeded Alexander Zverev, 6/7; 6/4; 6/1; 6/3, in a classic generational battle in which finesse upstaged power. In another clash of age-groups, however, the seventh seeded Marin Cilic outlasted the great Australian hope, Alex de Minaur, 4/6;…

NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 30: Phillip Kohhlschreiber of Germany returns the ball during his men’s singles second round match against Matthew Ebden of Australia on Day Four of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 30, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Julian Finney/Getty Images/AFP

Germany’s Phillip Kohlschreiber achieved the first major upset in the men’s draw when he defeated compatriot and fourth seeded Alexander Zverev, 6/7; 6/4; 6/1; 6/3, in a classic generational battle in which finesse upstaged power.

In another clash of age-groups, however, the seventh seeded Marin Cilic outlasted the great Australian hope, Alex de Minaur, 4/6; 3/6; 6/3; 6/4; 7/5, in a power-for-power exchange drawn over.

In the women’s field, Japan’s Naomi Osaka continued her impressive run far from the limelight.

Her latest casualty was Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus who did not get a game in the entire match.

The wind blowing away top female seeds continued with the ouster of fourth seeded Angelique Kerber by Dominika Cibulkova 3/6; 6/3; 6/3.

The 35-year-old Philip Kohlschreiber lost the first set, as the 21-year-old number one player in Germany ran through the tie break by seven points to one. The two players are among the few, who hit the backhand with one hand, making for similarity.

However, the older German countered Alexander’s power by a change of pace involving slices that kept keeping the ball low and prevented his opponent from unleashing his powerful strokes.

As a result, the lanky youngster committed a total of 53 unforced errors, by the finish line.

Kohlschreiber secured a break of serve to take the second set 6/1. From that point on, a frustrated Zverev won only one game in the third set and lost the fourth 3-6, as the contest ended after three hours and nine minutes.

Alex de Minaur took the first two sets from the seventh seed from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Marin Cilic.

It seemed that a major upset was in the offing. A single break of de Minaur’s serve gave Cilic the hope to resuscitate.

The Aussie had a chance to break Cilic in the eighth game of the fourth set, which involved five deuces but the lanky veteran survived and took the set 6-3.

Despite a sustained battle, Minaur dropped the fifth set 5-7. We will see more of him in the future.

Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia sent out Germany’s Angelique Kerber, the remaining highest seeded player in the women’s event.

The diminutive 29-year old, standing at 1.6 metres, stood her ground to recover from loss of the first 3-6 to repeat, in reverse the scores for the second and third sets.

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