Melzer/ Petzschner overpower Granollers/ Lopez to clinch the title – Mercedes Cup 2011
Second seeds, Austrian Jurgen Melzer and German Philipp Petzschner, dumped third seeded Spaniards, Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in straight sets at the Mercedes Cup 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event held on the clay
courts in Stuttgart, Germany. They registered a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Spaniards to clinch the title on Saturday.
The Austrian German duo took sixty-one minutes to triumph over the seeded Spaniard in straight sets on their first meeting. They earned a straight set victory over the lower ranked pair to not only shelf their second title of the
season but also maintained a 4-0 record in the finals.
Melzer and Petzschner nervously entered the court and lost their serve in the very first game. However, they made a fit reply by unleashing flurry of groundstrokes to reel off next four games in a row before the Spanish duo could
hold on. The Austrian German pair then held on to their remaining serves to pocket the opener with a 6-3 win in almost half hour.
Despite clobbering a lower first serve share of 64 percent as compared to the Spaniards’ 77 percent, they registered an impressive 72 percent win on it. In addition to this, Melzer and Petzschner saved two out of three breakpoints
conceded and cashed in half of the four breakpoint chances to their advantage.
The Austrian German tandem carried their momentum into the final set as they kept entire serves with their awesome tact. The pair required only a single breakpoint opportunity and which they founded and duly converted to their
advantage in the fifth game to eventually seal the set by winning six games to four.
They again produced a lower first serve share of 68 percent as compared to their rivals’ 88 percent but registered a fabulous 82 percent win on it.
"It’s a great feeling, especially winning in front of the home crowd. I think we played a really good match today," said Petzschner. "They didn’t make it easy for us, but we came through and it was a nice win. It’s a great experience
winning a title on clay and we have a lot of confidence for Hamburg."
Added Melzer, "It’s nice to get the title and get back on track to London. Hopefully we can continue like this in Hamburg."
The high spirited German Austrian tandem had a fabulous run of form at this event and hadn’t lost a single set throughout the tournament. They dumped Italians Fabio Fognini and Paolo Lorenzi in their opening round match, local
wild card entrants Bastian Knittel and Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in the quarters and slew fourth seeded pair of Germany’s Christopher Kas and Austria’s Alexander Peya all in straight sets to reach the final spot.
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