AUSTRIAN OPEN Kitzb�hel, Austria |
July 19, 2008 |
| Home Favorite Melzer Reaches Final; Faces Del Potro | |
| © Austrian Open Vienna native Melzer is the first Austrian to reach the singles final since Thomas Muster finished as runner-up to Albert Costa in 1995. The left-hander’s previous best result at Kitzbuhel was a quarterfinal appearance last year (l. to Youzhny). Melzer looked to be on course for a straight sets victory as he led by a set and a break; however, Starace hit back and saved a match point at 6-5 in the tie-break before leveling at one set-all. Melzer was quick to respond though and was able to close out the third set and the match after 2 hr., 3 min. The 27-year-old Starace was bidding to reach the final in Kitzbuhel for the second straight year after finishing runner-up to Juan Monaco in his last appearance in an ATP singles final last year. The World No. 61 was contesting his first ATP semifinal of the season having fallen in four quarterfinal attempts at Buenos Aires (l. to Nalbandian), Acapulco (l. to Nalbandian), Valencia (l. to Robredo) and last week in Bastad (l. to Berdych). He slips to 16-19 for the season. Melzer, No. 66 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, is through to his first ATP singles final since finishing runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt at 2007 Las Vegas. He is chasing his second title after capturing his first at Bucharest (d. Volandri) in 2006. The 27-year-old made quarterfinal exits at Poertschach (l. to Kunitsyn) and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Gicquel) earlier in the season and now improves his match record to 18-17. The victory also snaps a four match-losing streak against Italians. In the final Melzer will face seventh-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, who served six aces and converted two of three break points as he knocked out Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3, 7-6(5) in the second semifinal. Del Potro has won both previous meetings against Melzer – in straight sets at the 2007 US Open and in five sets in Argentina’s Davis Cup World Group first round clash with Austria last year. Melzer vs del Potro - Head-to-Head The 19-year-old Tandil resident captured his maiden ATP singles title at Stuttgart last week, defeating World No. 15 Richard Gasquet in the final, and is looking to become the second player after Rafael Nadal (Monte-Carlo – Barcelona; Roland Garros – Queen’s Club) to win back-to-back ATP tournaments this season. Hanescu, who celebrates his 27th birthday on Monday, also captured his maiden ATP singles title last week, defeating World No. 34 Igor Andreev in the Gstaad final, having dismissed No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka in the semifinals. The victory propelled the Bucharest resident up 21 places to No. 59 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. The 19-year-old del Potro is currently ranked No. 44 – level with his career-high – in the South African Airways ATP Rankings courtesy of his Stuttgart title win, a semifinal exit in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Ferrer) and a quarterfinal appearance in Munich (l. to El Aynaoui). The right-hander now improves to 18-8 for the season.
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Sixth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer (pictured) thrilled the home crowd in Kitzbuhel by reaching the final of the Austrian Open with a 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Italian Potito Starace on Saturday.
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