Enlarge image
Philipp Kohlschreiber had no chance in the second round
Photo: Frank Molter / dpa
Tennis pro Philipp Kohlschreiber clearly missed making it into the third round of the Australian Open.
The 38-year-old lost 1:6, 0:6, 3:6 to the 15th seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in just 1:28 hours.
Kohlschreiber was far from entering the third round for the eighth time in his 16th participation at the Australian Open.
The longtime Davis Cup player went into the match with a 3:2 record against Bautista Agut.
But from the start he was just chasing.
"It was just two left shoes today"
'I'm very rarely speechless.
But I can't say what the problem was," Kohlschreiber said. "It was just two left shoes today.
I can't explain why I didn't have the timing.
I can only dismiss the defeat with a smile.
It was just complete crap today.«
Kohlschreiber delivered the first sentence in just 23 minutes, the second round lasted only five minutes longer.
He couldn't find any means against the clever Spaniard, Kohlschreiber couldn't exert any pressure with his serve and struggled a lot with the precision of his shots.
Only in the third set did the German put up more resistance, but with the break to 3:2 Bautista Agut finally set the course for victory.
As in the previous year, Olympic champion Alexander Zverev is the only German in the third round of the individual competitions in Melbourne.
On Friday he will fight against qualifier Radu Albot from the Republic of Moldova for a place in the round of 16.
A total of twelve German professionals competed in the individual competitions in Melbourne.
Top ten players Muguruza and Kontaveit out
In the women's individual competition, the two-time Grand Slam winner Garbiñe Muguruza was surprisingly eliminated.
The Spanish world number three lost 3: 6, 3: 6 against the unseeded French player Alizé Cornet.
In 2020 she had reached the final in Melbourne.
Muguruza won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon a year later before falling far down the world rankings.
Last year she returned to the top of the world, winning titles in Chicago and Dubai before the 28-year-old triumphed at the WTA Finals in Guadalajara in November.
Sabalenka continued despite twelve double errors in the first set
The Estonian Anett Kontaveit, who was in such good form recently, also missed the entry into the third round.
The 26-year-old, who has moved up to seventh place in the world rankings with brilliant performances in recent months, was beaten by 19-year-old Clara Tauson from Denmark 2:6, 4:6.
World number two Aryna Sabalenka also had to fight hard.
In the first set alone, the Belarusian made twelve double faults against the Chinese Wang Xinyu, but she prevailed 1:6, 6:4, 6:2 and advanced to the third round.
Former French Open winner Iga Świątek from Poland is also there after beating Rebecca Peterson from Sweden 6-2, 6-2.
mfu/sid
