ATP-Finals
Jürgen Melzer and his partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin have preserved their chance of advancing to the semi-finals of the doubles competition with their first victory at the ATP finals in London. The number seven seeded duo turned their second game against the Australian-New Zealand team John Peers and Michael Venus on Wednesday after a set deficit and stayed with 2: 6, 7: 6 (7/4) and 12/10 in the Champions tie-break Promotion race.
Unlike in the first game of the group “Bob Bryan” when Melzer / Roger-Vasselin against the Croatian Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares from Brazil gave up the game after leading the set, this time the duo pulled themselves out of the swamp. In the first set, Melzer in particular had big problems with the service, but the 39-year-old improved as the game continued and, together with his 36-year-old partner, showed great morale: Melzer / Roger-Vasselin fought a total of five match balls – four of them in the championship Tie-break – off.
The duo drew level with the top seeded Pavic / Soares with their first win in the second game in the table. The latter surprisingly lost out 6: 7 (4/7) 7: 6 (7/4) and 8/10 in their second appearance in London’s O2 arena against the Spanish-Argentinian pairing Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. Against the still unbeaten Granollers / Zeballos, Melzer / Roger-Vasselin will now be promoted to the semi-finals on Friday. Pavic / Soares compete against the already fixed and pointless Peers / Venus and thus have the supposedly easier task on Friday.
Melzer’s service is starting up slowly
Melzer / Roger-Vasselin were lost in the first movement. Against the strong servers on the other side, Melzer had to give up his two service games – the last one to zero with a double error to 2: 6. In the second set, the 39-year-old’s serve worked much better. “The decisive factor was my first game after the first set. That made me feel positive and made me feel good. But you also have to say that you can’t play a whole match as badly as in the first set. That was well below my level, ”Melzer analyzed after the game.
At Service von Melzer, Peers / Venus suddenly had no chance, the only break ball in the second set was when Roger-Vasselin served and that was a match point at 4: 5 and 40:40. In the tie-break, Melzer / Roger-Vasselin quickly advanced to 3-0 and never gave up this advantage. Austria’s best doubles player ensured the set equalization with a nice volley.
“Found our game”
Melzer / Roger-Vasseline were unable to take the momentum into the decisive champions tiebreak. The duo were 4: 7 and later 6: 9 behind and were faced with three more match points. Among other things, an ace by Roger-Vasselin and a remarkable longline hit by the two-time double Grand Slam winner Melzer ensured the 9: 9 and after the fifth match point, Melzer / Roger-Vasselin used theirs after an hour and a half first opportunity to win the match at 12:10.
“We pulled ourselves together after the weak first set and found our game,” said Melzer. His partner pointed out that due to the strong performance of the opponents, you didn’t have many options. “But we stayed positive, and that was the key to victory,” said the Frenchman. “We fought to the last ball and are happy to have won.” Melzer was particularly happy, as his third participation is definitely his last in the season’s final tournament of the eight best doubles of the season.
ATP World Tour Finals in London
(Great Britain, $ 5.7 million, indoor, hard court)
