ATP Monte Carlo: Novak Djokovic struggles but beats Philipp Kohlschreiber
World no. 1 and a two-time Monte Carlo champion Novak Djokovic has secured the 33rd triumph at home in the Principality, battling past Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 36 minutes. Also, Novak has become the eighth player in the Open era with 850 ATP wins, joining Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas, Rafael Nadal, John McEnroe, Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi on that exclusive list. As the result suggest, the match was anything but easy for the top seed who lost to Philipp at Indian Wells a few weeks ago, struggling to find the rhythm and the footwork, which was expected in the first singles match on clay this season.
The German created no less than 16 break points, converting only four of those and giving his best from start to finish to stay in contention and chase the second consecutive win over Novak. He fell short in the end, losing serve five times and trailing during the entire deciding set after Novak grabbed a break in the opening game of the set to carry the lead home and avoid an early exit. They had a similar number of winners and unforced errors, with Djokovic forging the advantage in the shortest and most extended rallies to cross the finish line first, winning 11 points more than his rival.
The Serb fended off all four break points in games five and seven in the opener, scoring a break at 4-3 when Philipp netted a forehand and closing the set with a hold at love a few minutes later thanks to a forehand drive-volley winner. The second set offered 14 break points and unreal seven games in a row, with Kohlschreiber sealing four of those to take it 6-4 against the frustrated rival who had a lot of issues both on the court and with the crowd. Finding his focus again, Djokovic kicked off the decider with a break at love thanks to a forehand winner and that proved to be the pivotal moment of the entire encounter, saving four break points in the rest of the set (three already in game two) and converting the fifth match point at 5-4 to move over the top and reach the last 16.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2XhREpn
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