It’s been a hectic last two days for the two finalists in Munich, Andy Murray and Philipp Kohlschreiber. Both men finished their quarterfinals and semifinals matches on Saturday, but it was Murray who played two full matches on Saturday due to the inclement weather on Friday. Today we breakdown the key aspects of their game as well as our prediction on who wins it all.
As we all well know, the backhand is his best best shot, and he is hitting well throughout the tournament. Clay is never Murray’s favorite surface, and it is evident through to us that his movement is a department he is struggling with on the clay. Since his semifinal and finals losses to Novak Djokovic in IW and Miami, Murray’s been hitting his serve with a bit more pace. It'll be Interesting to see what he does tomorrow.
Top-seeded Murray was given a bye in the first round, and defeated Mischa Zverev in his first match. After the rain on Friday, he defeated Rosol and Bautista Agut. In his match against Rosol, they bumped shoulders on a changeover, and Murray told him, “Nobody likes you.” setting off a controversy.
The German Philipp Kohlschreiber, just like a one-handed backhand player in the Portugal final, is striking the ball beautifully with his backhand. Kohlschreiber stands at 5’10” but is quite lethal on that backhand size. Like Gasquet, he can flat out use the backhand to dictate play creating angles and depth that make it difficult for the opponent to read what he'll do next with it. His forehand wing is also decent too, but it can sometimes get lost when he’s trying to really go for it. Despite this, he is 1-1 against Murray on clay, and that loss was losing 12-10 in fifth to him in last year’s French Open third round.
Kohlschreiber, a two-time finalist and 2012 Champion in Munich, defeated rising star and countryman Alex Zverev in his second match after dispatching Jiri Vesely with ease. He knocked off Gerald Melzer to get to the final.
The home crowd for the German, a worn out Murray, and the Brits first ever final on clay are all ingredients for a Kohlschreiber victory, but no one ever expects it to be that simple against Andy Murray. Expect a worn out Murray to come out a bit sluggish tomorrow, but once he gets it going, especially on the backhand side, don’t expect him to lose it.
Prediction: Andy Murray in three sets.