2010 Bank Austrian Tennis Trophy; Jurgen Melzer successfully defends his crown
The top seed Jurgen Melzer successfully defended his crown at the 2010 Bank Austrian Tennis Trophy on Sunday, after thrashing out Andreas Haider Maurer in three sets in an all Austrian title battle in Vienna. The final match score was 6-7(10), 7-6(4), 6-4.
"It was a very tough match for me today. He was really serving well, and then at the end he was serving for the match, I was a little lucky to get back into the match. I am really fortunate to defend my title. I am very happy. It is a lot of emotions going
through a match like this. Winning the title, it means a lot to me,” declared Melzer after the match on Sunday.
The win marked Jurgen’s first ATP World Tour crown of the year and further increased his chances of qualifying for the season ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. The left handed contender, who is currently ranked number eleven in the 2010 South
African Airways ATP list, is looking for one of the three remaining places in the elite eight man field. He secured 250 ranking points as a result of winning the Vienna title on Sunday.
The professional tennis player from Austria is enjoying the best year of his career on both the singles and doubles courts. Moreover, he is also the only contender on the tour who is ranked inside top fifteen in both doubles and singles and has also successfully
qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour doubles competition along with the grass court Grand Slam winner, Philipp Petzschner.
The 29-year-old Jurgen fought hard for his third career ATP World Tour crown against the world number 157, Haider who came into the main draw of the competition as a lucky loser. He made his way into the title battle after getting the better of Thomas Muster
and Marin Cilic.
Haider prevented one set point before taking a set lead on his fifth chance in a gripping opening set tie-break on Sunday. The 23-year-old then provided himself another opportunity to serve for the match at 5-4 in the following set after having broken his
opponent’s serve in the opening game. However, the inexperienced Haider couldn’t handle the pressure and as a result two double faults proved costly as he allowed Jurgen to bounce back and tie the battle in the subsequent tie-break.
Both of them prevented break points in the initial stages of the decisive set before Jurgen broke through during the seventh game and went on to clinch win in two hours and forty seven minutes. It was the very first all –Austrian title battle in Vienna since
1988 when Horst Skoff surpassed Muster.
Jurgen, as a result of this win has registered his name as the first contender to capture back to back crowns in the Austrian capital since Ivan Ljubicic back from 2005 to 2006.
"I am happy with the first final, but I was up 7-6, 5-3, I served for the match. I had big chances to win this title, but it is the first time. I was a little bit nervous. Jurgen played good in this moment, and I lost,” declared Haider after the match.
Haider-Maurer was looking to become the first lucky loser to capture an ATP World Tour crown since Rajeev Ram won in Newport last year during the month of July.
Despite of his finalist finish, Haider-Maurer when asked about his overall experience said that he is quite happy with his performance and is looking to further improve his game along with the rankings on the tour.
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