Michael Berrer stuns Jurgen Melzer to reach round two – French Open 2012
German qualifier, Michael Berrer, made a spectacular comeback to oust the 30th seed, Jurgen Melzer, in a five-set thriller at the Roland Garros 2012 on Sunday. He juggled up a 6-7(5), 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory against the top Austrian to advance into the second round at this second of the four Grand Slam events taking place on clay in France.
In a match between both left-handed stars, the German remained focused to pull out the victory in third battle against each other. The players last met each other at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors earlier this circuit and after earning this success, Berrer not only took lead in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head series by 2-1 against the Austrian but also advanced into the round of 64.
Melzer sloppily stepped on Court Three and suffered the first blow in the third game to trail at 1-2. However, he quickly recovered in the very next game and then stayed focused to impose a tie-breaker. The Austrian dominated in it and clinched the opener with a 7-6(5) score line.
The former world number eight kept momentum rolling in the follow-up set and earned the desiderated break in the opening game to take the initial lead. Apart from losing his edge in the fourth game, Melzer got the breakthrough in the fifth game and sealed the set by winning six games to four.
The German underdog turned the tables on Melzer in the third set. He jumped to a 3-0 with a break of serve before the Austrian could hold on. In spite of squandering his serve in the fifth game, Berrer unleashed his skills and wiped out the last three games consecutively to click the set with a 6-2 win.
Ranked 114th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Berrer carried his rhythm in the fourth game and earned the critical break in the second game again to leap to a 3-0 lead. The German cashed in another break chance after that and pulled out the equaliser with a 6-2 score line.
The match was poised on a knife edge but the underdog was the one who maintained consistency in his game. Berrer gifted away his opening serve to fall at 0-2. However, he remained focused and capitalised on two out of four break chances to register a 6-3 success.
Up next for Berrer is the local qualifier, Nicolas Devilder.
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