Nicolas Almagro left the Heineken Open today probably wondering what he has to do to win in Auckland.
The world No 10 was dumped out of the quarter-finals by Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 6-4 even though he largely controlled the tempo of the match and created the better chances.
In fact, Kohlschreiber couldn't force a break point until the last game of the match but it was all he needed as he ousted the second seed in 94 minutes.
"He played a little bit stronger,'' Kohlschreiber admitted. "He had better chances in the first set and I think I won the big points today. Two or three points more made the difference today.''
The eighth seed pulled out a couple of big ones when trailing 4-2 in the first-set tie breaker and another to clinch the tiebreak 7-5 as he had Almagro on the run. Match point was less dramatic, as the Spaniard double faulted, bringing a limp conclusion to an otherwise high-quality match.
Almagro isn't always the most whole-hearted player on tour, and he departed Auckland in 2010 with accusations of tanking swirling around him, but his effort today couldn't be questioned.
He has won 10 career titles but all of them have come on clay and he knows he needs to find success away from the red dirt if he's to take a step up in the rankings any further.
He even tried a new approach this year, playing in Chennai before the Heineken Open, in the hope of getting in as many matches before the Australian Open.
Kohlschreiber will turn up to Melbourne next week in good shape and, if history is anything to go by, might fancy his chances of going deep into the tournament. In 2008, the year he won the Heineken Open, he reached the fourth round of the Australian Open to match his best result at any grand slam.
He is hitting the ball well and has a great chance to progress to at least the final this week at Stanley St with his semifinal against an unseeded player.
Olivier Rochus led Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-3 5-6 (30-15) when light rain intervened and Rochus' scratchy style of a mixture of sliced backhands, drop shots and lobs was clearly frustrating the bigger-hitting Paire.
It wasn't only a contrast in styles that stood out. Rochus is the shortest player on the tour at 1.68m and gave away nearly 30cm to Paire, who goes by the nickname La Tige (The Stalk) because of his gangly frame.
Paire seems destined to make good advances up the rankings from his current position of 92 after wins over former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero and fourth seed Juan Ignacio Chela and Kohlschreiber, too, is hopeful of getting close to his career-high ranking of 22.
"Last year I didn't perform as consistently as I wanted,'' the world No 42 said. "I know if I play well I have good potential but it's not easy to bring it up every week. That's what I will work on this year, getting more consistent in my game and then I think on the good days I can beat many guys.''
