US Open 2013: Middle Sunday

via bethubb

Philipp Kohlschreiber (22nd seed, Germany) is what is known in tennis circles as a dangerous floater.  Never one to challenge for Major titles, he's still the guy nobody wants to have to play.  He's a scrappy right-handed grinder who fears no one.  The giant killer resume is quite respectable.  In recent years, he took out Andy Roddick in the third round of the 2008 Australian Open and Novak Djokovic in the third of the 2009 French.  In fact, he's the last player to beat Djokovic before the quarterfinals of a Slam.  He certainly has John Isner's number - at least on the big stage - having taken the towering American out of the US Open both this year and last.

Kohlschreiber is now 29 years young and still going strong, having reached the finals of three tournaments this year.  He won the doubles title in Doha with countryman Christopher Kas.  Next up, he faces the hottest player in tennis: Rafael Nadal (2nd, Spain).  He actually has one victory over Nadal (Halle 2012) but has lost to the Spaniard nine times.  I would say Kohlschreiber has a better chance of derailing the dream Federer/Nadal quarterfinal than Tommy Robredo (19th, Spain) does but that's not saying much.  Robredo has never beaten Fed (7th, Switzerland) in 10 tries.  The best weapon Kohlschreiber has is force of will and no one's ever going to beat Rafa at that game.