STOCKHOLM, October 19, 2018
Philipp Kohlschreiber headlined Thursday’s second round action at the Intrum Stockholm Open, saving five match points to beat eighth seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(5).
The 35-year-old German outpointed his opponent 125-113 to claim his sixth win over Verdasco in the pair’s 10th meeting. The encounter lasted two hours and 45 minutes.
“It’s crazy. It doesn’t happen so often to win a match when you have to save match points. I am very happy,” said Kohlschreiber, who will next play No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
Top favourites prevail
The top two seeds of the ATP World Tour 250 event also advanced to the quarterfinals. John Isner, the tournament’s No. 1, battled past fellow US-American Bradley Klahn 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 7-6(5) in his first tour-level match since losing in the stage of the final eight at the US Open in September. The 33-year-old became a father on 15 September.
“It was extremely tough. I didn’t think it was going to be that tough but who knows, I think I needed a match like that to try to get me going,” said Isner
Isner, who is currently in 10th place in the ATP-Race to London, fired 31 aces to secure victory in two hours and 23 minutes. The Dallas resident will next take on compatriot Tennys Sandgren, who defeated German Oscar Otte 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3.
Second seed Fabio Fognini beat Lukas Lacko from Slovakia 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 28 minutes to face South Korean young gun Hyeon Chung next.
50th anniversary of the tournament
Swedish tennis legends Stefan Edberg, Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander attended a special ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Open.
stort grattis @IntrumSthlmOpen to your very successful 50th anniversary and for having such great and classy champions like #StefanEdberg #MatsWilander #BjörnBorg pic.twitter.com/ktKCXYrmOh
— Brigitte Urban (@brigitte__urban) 18. Oktober 2018
