Dubai: Meeting and beating World No. 1 Andy Murray in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is a good early goal for Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, but first he must dispatch ‘nasty’ Gilles Muller.
Muller comes fresh from his first ATP Tour event win in Sydney last month where he beat Britain’s Dan Evans.
And despite Kohlschreiber having a better head-to-head record over the Luxembourger — 2-0 with hardcourt wins in Yokohama 2002 and Moscow 2011 — the 33-year-old German is rightfully cautious.
“He’s a nasty player, a big guy who always plays good tennis,” said Kohlschreiber of Muller. “He’s playing serve and volley, which isn’t so common anymore and he serves very well. I think he’s in great shape and has just come from a career high of a first tournament win, so I guess he is full of confidence.
“But on the other side, I have always played well here and I like the conditions,” added the German, whose best finish in seven Dubai appearances is a semi-final in 2014.
“If I look further I have Andy in the quarters and that would be a small goal. Of course, the big thing would be to win that match [against Murray]. But first I have to win the first match and my first match is tricky, so it’s 50-50.”
Kohlscreiber, whose best run in a Grand Slam was the quarters at Wimbledon in 2012, has beaten Murray once in five meetings, in the final at Munich in 2015 on outdoor clay.
He reached two ATP event finals in 2016 winning one in Munich and losing the other in Stuttgart. And has so far started the year with a last 16 in Rotterdam and Qatar, either side of a last 32 in Melbourne and quarter-final in Sydney last month.
“I’ve struggled a bit and have had to pull out of tournaments two weeks in a row,” he said of a withdrawal in Sydney followed by a no show in Sofia, due to a back injury. “I hope that’s in the past now. So far I’m feeling pretty good and healthy again. I am 100 per cent now so hopefully I can play more tournaments.”
