France’s Jeremy Chardy triumphs over Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the first round of Davis Cup
World number 55, Jeremy Chardy of France, shocked the tennis fans by defeating world number 10 Jurgen Melzer in the first round of the Davis Cup on Friday. Chardy won his first match of the year against the Austrian in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4 and 7-5.
Chardy took two hours and twenty three minutes to deliver the hammer blow to the Austrian team. He was a surprise selection for the French squad for the Davis cup after three of the top French players withdrew from the contest. Chardy had been in terrible
form this year, losing all of his four matches.
“It’s amazing for me, I played unbelievable,” Chardy reflected in his post match reviews, “My tactics were to just play offensive, try to make a good serve and then play with my forehand and go full on every shot.”
A magnificent performance from the Frenchman took Melzer by surprise, resulting in a loss for the Austrian. Everyone expected that Melzer would recover after a sloppy start, but Chardy proved too good for him.
The Frenchman was brilliant with his serve, an aspect which Melzer lacked in the game. Chardy delivered 63 per cent of his first serve on target with the Austrian following him with 59, as he belted 14 thudding aces and five service winners in the contest.
The French stumbled a bit in the second set, but recovered very skilfully to take away the game.
Chardy kicked off the opener in aggressive fashion, as he capitalised the sloppy start of his opponent and had an early serve break. Melzer replied with the same, but only to be broken again. The Austrian’s error count remained a problem for him, giving
away 19 in the first set, as Chardy sealed the opening set at 7-5 to lead the contest 1-0.
The following set brought no luck for the Austrian, as he coughed up 22 errors. Melzer gathered his pace in the second set when he broke Chardy trailing 3-5. The Frenchman broke back in the very next game to seal the second set at 6-4.
The dejected Austrian was unable to control his faults in the third set, as he spilled 24 more unforced errors to assist his opponent. Melzer broke early in the third set, but double-faulted his advantage in the next game. Chardy converted two out four break
opportunities to finish off the match at 7-5.
Chardy’s victory put the French squad 1-0 up in the contest before his fellow compatriot Gilles Simon converted it to 2-0 by winning the second rubber against Stefan Koubek. In the doubles match up on Saturday, the French pair of Julien Benneteau and Michael
Llodra will compete against Melzer and Oliver Marach. No doubt the French squad is eyeing to white-wash the Austrian team in the Davis cup.
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