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Nick Kyrgios vs Philipp Kohlschreiber: French Open live scores, blog

30th May, 2017
Start time: 7pm
Court: 2
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Online: Live, Foxtel Go
Betting: Kyrgios $1.40, Kohlschreiber $3
Overall record: Never played

Nick Kyrgios last 10 matches: won 7, lost 3
Philipp Kohlschreiber last 10 matches: won 5, lost 5
Nick Kyrgios. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Expert
30th May, 2017
202
2418 Reads

Australian Nick Kyrgios will look to put a poor clay court season and hip injury behind him when he faces a tricky start to the French Open against German world no.43 Philipp Kohlschreiber. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7pm.

Kyrgios had a stellar U.S. hard court season as he challenged some of the world’s best players, making three semi-finals and a quarter. He beat Novak Djokovic twice and took an in-form Roger Federer to three sets over three hours.

It looked like a different Kyrgios to the one that bombed out of the Australian Open, but followed a successful start to the 2017 Davis Cup campaign, where he led Australia to victory over both the Czech Republic and USA.

Since then though, it has been anything but smooth sailing for the Australian. Between recovery, family matters and a hip injury, he comes into the French Open grossly underprepared, having played only four clay court singles matches.

His doubles form has been strong enough, and while he looked switched on in Madrid before running into the Rafael Nadal freight train, his shock loss to Nicolas Kicker in Lyon raised some eyebrows.

It looked more like the Kyrgios who sensationally dropped a two-set lead to Andreas Seppi at Melbourne Park in January, and it’s something he has to avoid to make any sort of run in Paris.

For Kohlschreiber, it’s been a steady but not spectacular 2017. He still sits outside the seedings for grand slams, but not by much with a rank of 43. While the German has had some solid runs through tournaments, he has only made two finals and generally struggled against anyone similar to his ranking.

While it’s been a reasonably consistent style, errors have marred the year and he has been found out trying to keep points shorter on clay. Since a run to the final against Borna Coric in Marrakech, he has won just one of four matches and struggled to match it with players he should be comfortably beating.

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In particular, a straight sets loss to Hyeon Chung illustrates his form is well below a potential peak, and despite clay not being his preferred surface, he is going to need to produce something near a perfect game to beat a switched on Kyrgios.

Unfortunately, that’s the question that must be asked before every single one of Kyrgios’ matches. Will he be switched on and consistent across five sets?

Prediction
If the hip holds up and Kyrgios plays anywhere near his potential, he should pick up an easy first round win on his least favourite surface. In fact, he should do it in straight sets, watch out for an upset if he doesn’t though.

Kyrgios in straight sets.

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