Black Tennis Pros

Philipp Kohlschreiber

Unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber upset third-seeded Gael Monfils of France in straight sets Saturday to reach the final of the Gerry Weber Open.

The 49th-ranked Kohlschreiber returned to the Halle final for the first time since losing to Roger Federer in 2008 by cruising past Monfils 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour, 17 minutes.

Monfils, ranked a career-high No. 8 coming into the tournament, had not dropped a single set at the Wimbledon warmup event before running into Kohlschreiber.

In Sunday's final, Kohlschreiber will take on 2007 Gerry Weber champion Tomas Berdych or fellow unseeded German Philipp Petzschner, who were playing later Saturday.

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Germany's Dustin Brown

 It was already after 9 p.m. when Gael Monfils took the court for the first time in singles at the 19th Gerry Weber Open. It’s no surprise that the number 3 seed didn’t want to play a long match in his GWO debut. He made it short and sweet, beating his compatriot Florent Serra 6-4, 6-3 in just 57 minutes.

Serra had reached the main field in Halle through qualifiers but could not challenge Monfils’ impressive game, losing his service in the seventh game of the first set. The 24-year-old Monfils did what he wanted to with Serra in their second ATP meeting, breaking him in the first and final games of the second set to take the match. Monfils also beat Serra in Brisbane in 2010, and the world number 8 next faces Croatian Ivan Dodig in the second round. That match will not be played until Thursday as Monfils is playing on Wednesday doubles with Dustin Brown.

Sixth seed Florian Mayer withstood 20 aces from wildcard Dustin Brown to reach the second round of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle on Wednesday.

Brown was clinical on serve but simply could not catch his fellow German, who triumphed 7-6 (8-6) 2-6 6-3 in 79 minutes to set up a second-round clash with Lu Yen-Hsun.

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HALLE, Germany, June 13 (UPI) -- No. 2 seed James Blake needed a pair of tiebreaker wins Friday to move into the semifinals of the $1.12 million Gerry Weber Open tennis tournament in Germany.

The decision moved Blake into Saturday's semifinals against Philipp Kohlschreiber while the other semifinal features world No. 1 Roger Federer playing local favorite Nicolas Kiefer.

Blake played the tightest quarterfinal of the day Friday, winning 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) over Andreas Beck while Kohlschreiber advanced to the Weber semifinals for the second straight year with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) decision over Robin Soderling.

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In the first match of his grass court season, the second seed put on a good performance. After making a few experiments in the first couple of games, he was done testing at 3-3. He upped tempo and put Phau under pressure. It was too much pressure for the German. After gaining the first break of the match to go up 4-3, Blake controlled the remainder of the one-sided issue almost at will. “I did indeed try a few things because I had never played against Bjoern,” the American said afterwards.

While Phau was desperate to get his serve going (“I hit only 35 percent of my first serves, that is deadly on grass”), Blake fired a string of aces. “This was one of my best service performances of all year,” he said. Blake never looked back, breaking Phau in the third game of the second set before finishing the German off after 49 minutes.

Blake is confident to make something happen in Halle this time out. “I am stronger than last year but you have to improve because the whole tour has gotten much stronger,” he added. The 28-year-old looks to further improve his serve even tough it already is one of his strengths. “I am no Andy Roddick yet,” he said. As for Wimbledon, he has high goals. “I want to finally get into the second week.”

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