Philipp Kohlschreiber overcame Dominic Thiem in three sets 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 to reap his third title in Munich on Sunday.
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Young regional talents in Austria’s Dominic Thiem and Germany’s Alexander Zverev hooked up for a thrilling duel that could very well be a future rivalry at the top of the ATP.
The Austrian, who has more wins (29) than anyone else on tour this year, had been bidding for his third title of the season.
“This is a great tournament and has been something of a lucky charm for me”, said Kohlschreiber, who collected 82,450 euros in prize money, a new sports vehicle – and a luxury pair of leather lederhosen, the traditional Bavarian dress.
This time around, it was Thiem rallying back from a one-set deficit to land enough heavy bombs and outlast his younger but strapping competitor, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
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Kohlschreiber pulled away 5-2 in the third set but Thiem kept it bowling and restored parity. Once again, on 5-3, when he has to serve to win the match, Kohlschreiber makes a smash and backhand unforced error and gets broken. Thiem has many regrets for what happened in the tie-break: goes up 4-1, but Kohlschreiber, thanks to some magical shots (drop shots, fanrtastic volleys and awesome defenses) turned this around and converts the 8th set point, winning the tie-break 9-7.
