Philipp Kohlschreiber overcame 14 aces by Jan-Lennard Struff to beat his German compatriot 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 in their first-round meeting at the Generali Open on Tuesday.
Sixth-seeded Kohlschreiber held his serve throughout and broke Struff once in the first set and again in the final set.
“I was the better player in the rallies, but his serve made it a close match,” said Kohlschreiber, who reached the Generali final in 2012, but failed to win his opening match the following two years.
Photo: EPA
Andreas Haider-Maurer came back from a break down in both sets to beat Joao Souza of Brazil 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 and is scheduled to meet fellow Austrian Dominic Thiem in the second round.
Thiem, who is ranked No. 21 in the world and is coming off back-to-back titles in Umag and Gstaad, is the top-seeded player at the final clay-court event of the season after David Goffin of Belgium pulled out for personal reasons.
Another Austrian, Jurgen Melzer, also advanced by defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 7-6 (7/3), 6-3. Melzer, former No. 8 in the world, entered on a wild card, is to play Nicolas Almagro of Spain next.
Almagro hit 20 aces while rallying to beat seventh-seeded the Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely of 6-7 (2/7), 7-5, 6-4.
Albert Montanes of Spain beat Gerald Melzer, Jurgen’s younger brother, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), and Dusan Lajovic of Serbia defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-3, 6-4.
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