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Melzer beats Kendrick in Houston
Source: Agencies |
April 8, 2009, Wednesday
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THIRD-SEEDED Jurgen Melzer of Austria rallied to beat Robert Kendrick of the United States 6-1, 7-5 in the first round of the US Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston on Monday.
Melzer pounced on Kendrick's serve in the first set but couldn't maintain the pace. Kendrick took advantage by breaking the Austrian in the first and seventh games of the second set to take a 5-2 lead.
It appeared the match was headed for a third set before Melzer broke back in the eighth game when Kendrick double-faulted and hit an unforced backhand error on the final two points.
Kendrick then double-faulted at break point in the 10th game and fought off one match point in the final game before he hit a backhand into the net on the final point.
"I started rushing. I tried to do too much too early," Melzer said. "On hard court, you have one, two shots in a point. Here, you have to try to be mentally alert."
Melzer lost early at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami last week and had little time to adjust to the slower clay courts at River Oaks. He was a US Clay Court finalist in 2006 at Houston's Westside Tennis Club, losing to Mardy Fish.
"I felt if I played my game and stayed focused, I would get through," Melzer said. "But he is a good shot maker and it's tough on clay the first time. It's a matter of playing as many shots at the start and I finally found a good rhythm."
Melzer escaped a double break in the fourth game of the opening set to hold serve. Kendrick didn't win a point in serving the fifth game and Melzer broke him again in the seventh game with a forehand winner to wrap up the first set.
In Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, fourteen-year-old Madison Keys made her WTA Tour debut a memorable one, upsetting Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva 7-5, 6-4 on Monday in the opening round of The MPS Group Championships.
The American fell behind 5-2 in the first set but used powerful ground strokes to break Kudryavtseva twice and a serve that averaged 162.5kph to win the set.
Keys lost the first game of the second set before going on a four-game run, and after the 81st-ranked Kudryavtseva fought back to 4-5, Keys won the set with an ace.
"The first two or three games I was nervous," she said. "It was kind of just the first few games of just hitting the ball and feeling it and really getting into a rhythm that made me feel a lot better."
The youngster could face the tournament's top-seeded player, ninth-ranked Nadia Petrova, in the second round.
In other early matches, Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (2), 6-2.
Melzer pounced on Kendrick's serve in the first set but couldn't maintain the pace. Kendrick took advantage by breaking the Austrian in the first and seventh games of the second set to take a 5-2 lead.
It appeared the match was headed for a third set before Melzer broke back in the eighth game when Kendrick double-faulted and hit an unforced backhand error on the final two points.
Kendrick then double-faulted at break point in the 10th game and fought off one match point in the final game before he hit a backhand into the net on the final point.
"I started rushing. I tried to do too much too early," Melzer said. "On hard court, you have one, two shots in a point. Here, you have to try to be mentally alert."
Melzer lost early at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami last week and had little time to adjust to the slower clay courts at River Oaks. He was a US Clay Court finalist in 2006 at Houston's Westside Tennis Club, losing to Mardy Fish.
"I felt if I played my game and stayed focused, I would get through," Melzer said. "But he is a good shot maker and it's tough on clay the first time. It's a matter of playing as many shots at the start and I finally found a good rhythm."
Melzer escaped a double break in the fourth game of the opening set to hold serve. Kendrick didn't win a point in serving the fifth game and Melzer broke him again in the seventh game with a forehand winner to wrap up the first set.
In Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, fourteen-year-old Madison Keys made her WTA Tour debut a memorable one, upsetting Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva 7-5, 6-4 on Monday in the opening round of The MPS Group Championships.
The American fell behind 5-2 in the first set but used powerful ground strokes to break Kudryavtseva twice and a serve that averaged 162.5kph to win the set.
Keys lost the first game of the second set before going on a four-game run, and after the 81st-ranked Kudryavtseva fought back to 4-5, Keys won the set with an ace.
"The first two or three games I was nervous," she said. "It was kind of just the first few games of just hitting the ball and feeling it and really getting into a rhythm that made me feel a lot better."
The youngster could face the tournament's top-seeded player, ninth-ranked Nadia Petrova, in the second round.
In other early matches, Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (2), 6-2.
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