Jurgen Melzer conquers Milos Raonic in the title-round – Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012
Austrian number one, Jurgen Melzer, tumbled over the Canadian booming star, Milos Raonic, in straight sets at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012 on Sunday. He formulated a 7-5, 7-6(4) victory over the 21-year-old to claim his fourth ATP (Association
of Tennis Professionals) title at this hard court tournament held in Memphis, United States.
The world number 19, Melzer remained focused throughout the match to upset the fourth seeded Canadian in their first meeting. After stealing the spotlight in this one hour and 37-minutes duel, the Austrian edged in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series by 1-0
against Raonic.
"Of course it’s a relief to win a tournament, especially a 500; I haven’t won one before," said Melzer. "After a tough season last year, it’s obviously something nice. I played a really good match today, I kept my head in the game. I knew it was tough. He’s
probably the best server on tour at the moment."
The 30-year-old assertively entered the Racquet Club of Memphis and plucked in entire serves without facing any barrier. He got the breakthrough in the eleventh game by cashing in the only break chance and sealed the opener with a 7-5 win.
Ranked 24th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Raonic found his rhythm in the second set and after earning a coveted break, he went 4-1 up early.
Melzer re-gathered his strength at this point and snatched his break back to square the scores at 4-4. He then held his nerves and not only imposed a tie-breaker but dominated in it to clinch the set with a 7-6(4) score line.
Summing up the youngster’s performance, Raonic smacked 22 aces and clobbered an equal first serve share of 63 percent. However, he spilled more unforced errors and capitalised only on one out of five break opportunities.
"He neutralised my serve better than anybody else the last two weeks, so a big part of it is getting a lot of free points to not getting that many," said the Canadian youngster.
The delighted Austrian on the other hand impressively clicked 38 out of 50 points on his first serve share and converted two out of three break chances to his advantage.
Melzer not only improved to a 4-7 win-loss record in the ATP finals but also became the first 30-year-old to triumph at this ATP World Tour 500 series event since Ivan Lendl in 1991.
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