Indian Wells (AP) – Philipp Kohlschreiber was the first German tennis pro to be eliminated from the Masters in Indian Wells. The 38-year-old from Augsburg lost to Emil Ruusuvuori from Finland in the first round on Friday 3:6, 3:6.
“It was definitely the best match I’ve played here today. Emil played very solidly, very well. That’s maybe a different level than the opponents I had before,” said Kohlschreiber, who qualified for the main draw had to. “I fought well and worked well the days and was more satisfied with the performance than in the other games, even if I lost today.”
Oscar Otte meanwhile defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6:2, 1:6, 6:3 in the parallel game in the hard court tournament endowed with 8,584,055 US dollars. In the next round he meets Poland’s number eleven seed Hubert Hurkacz.
Olympic champion Andy Murray also reached the second round. The Brit defeated the Japanese Taro Daniel 1: 6, 6: 2, 6: 4 and recorded the 700th victory on the ATP tour – a mark that only Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal of the players who are still active apart from him achieved.
The Masters in Indian Wells is one of the most important tennis tournaments on the ATP tour. Olympic champion Alexander Zverev is number three and had a bye in the first round.