Tsonga, Malisse, Melzer victorious in Vienna – Bryan’s narrow win

Written by: Global Chick on 28th October 2011

Tsonga, Malisse, Melzer victorious in Vienna – Bryan’s narrow win

Belgian tennis player Xavier Malisse returns the ball to Austria's Andreas Haider-Maurer during their singles match on the first day of the Davis Cup World Group play off between Belgium and Austria in Antwerp, Belgium, 16 September 2011. EPA/JULIEN WARNAND BELGIUM OUT |

The top seed at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was leading 3-1 in the third set when opponent Jarkko Nieminen of Finland pulled out with a sore hip. Tsonga came back from a set down in today’s match after being overpowered by Nieminen in the first set. The World No. 9 is holding the number eight spot in the YTD rankings and is looking to improve his chances to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Belgium’s Xavier Malisse will now face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Vienna quarterfinals. Malisse had a tough three setter against Italy’s Fabio Fognini but ended up winning 6-7 6-3 6-3. Malisse and Tsonga have only faced each other once and that was in Indian Wells in March this year when Malisse won in straight sets.

Defending Champion Jurgen Melzer of Austria downed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5 6-1 to kick off his title defence. “It’s nice to come back and play in front of your home fowd, especially when you have won the tournament two times,” Melzer said. The Austrian is one of the very few players that have a high singles and doubles ranking on the tour. Melzer and partner Philipp Petzschner have already qualified for the London World Finals at the end of the year. The World No. 25 will meet big serving Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals.

Tommy Haas is finding form again after a comeback from injuries. Haas defeated Slovenian qualifier Aljaz Beden 4-6 6-4 6-1 on Thursday. The former Top 10 player won the Vienna tournament back in 2001. Haas is in for a ride in the next round when he faces Juan Martin Del Potro the number two seed.

The number four seed Radek Stepanek suffered a surprise loss to German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-4 7-6 (4). Brands will meet another qualifier Belgium’s Steve Darcis in the next round. Darcis overcame Austrian qualifier Dominic Thiem 6-2 6-2. Thiem is the next star coming from Austria, he reached the final of the Junior French Open and in the previous round this week he took out fellow Austrian veteran Thomas Muster.

The Bryan twins had a tight opening round against Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya on Wednesday. The Bryan came through in three sets after losing the first set in a tiebreak they won the second set in a tiebreak and finished off with an 11-9 in the match tiebreaker. None of the four players dropped serve during the match.

Juan Martin Del Potro and partner Radek Stepanek won in straight sets over hometown favourites Andreas Haider –Maurer and Philipp Oswald. The Argentinian/Czech duo are now through to the semi-finals of the doubles where they will play the winner of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini of Italy and the number two seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor.

CENTRE COURT start 1:00 pm

[4] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) vs R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK)

Not Before 3:00 PM

[Q] T Haas (GER) vs [2] J del Potro (ARG)

Not Before 4:30 PM

[6] K Anderson (RSA) vs [3] J Melzer (AUT)

Not Before 6:30 PM

[1] J Tsonga (FRA) vs X Malisse (BEL)

[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs O Marach (AUT) / D Marrero (ESP)

COURT B start 5:00 pm

[Q] D Brands (GER) vs [Q] S Darcis (BEL)

Topics: Jarkko Nieminen, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Xavier Malisse