Sandgren surges into Classic final
Tennys Sandgren is into the final of the ASB Classic after beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 6-2 in Auckland yesterday.
In sweltering heat, the 27-yearold from America won a semifinal in a fairly regulation way, managing to get a break of serve in the first set and another in the second.
Sandgren, who reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open last year, lost just nine points on his serve throughout the match and also hit deep enough winners to stop Kohlschreiber from chasing them down.
Kohlschreiber won this tournament in 2008 and at the age of 35, it would have been a fairytale story for him to win it again.
However, Sandgren had other ideas and is now gunning for his maiden ATP win.
Kohlschreiber did come close to breaking in the first game of the match, going up 0-40 on the American’s serve.
But Sandgren managed to get himself out of trouble and the semifinal settled down for a while after that.
With Kohlschreiber serving at 4-5, Sandgren upped the intensity of his returns, while the German also struggled to get some of his first serves in and Sandgren got a break at a crucial time.
In the fourth game of the next set Kohlschreiber was broken again and with a solid hold from Sandgren in the next game, the writing was on the wall for this match.
While Kohlschreiber isn’t the type of player to throw in the towel, there was no way back for him and he was broken again as the match was wrapped up in just one hour 11 minutes.