zatoicchi
20.07.08, 03:54
ITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP)—Jurgen Melzer will play Juan Martin del Potro in the final of the Austrian Open.
Melzer beat last year’s runner-up Potito Starace 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 on Saturday to reach his first final of the year, and Del Potro defeated Victor Hanescu 6-3, 7-6 (5).
The 19-year-old Del Potro will play his second career final, just one week after the Argentine won his first title in Stuttgart, Germany. Del Potro is 2-0 against Melzer after beating him in a 2007 Davis Cup match and in the second round of last year’s U.S. Open.
“It’s fantastic to be in a final again so soon,” said Del Potro, who could become the fifth Argentine winner of the clay-court event in the last six years. “I beat Jurgen twice before but that doesn’t mean anything as this is a different surface.”
Sunday’s final of the 63rd edition will be the last at Kitzbuehel, which is not included in the ATP calendar next year.
“It would be really great for me to become the last winner of Kitzbuehel,” said Melzer, whose only other ATP Tour title came in Bucarest, Romania, in 2006.
The sixth-seeded Melzer played serve-and-volley to put pressure on Starace’s baseline game.
Melzer to play del Potro in Austrian Open final (http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news;_ylt=AtBsPZSUANZtgR4.ETq0Xf04v7YF?slug=ap-kitzbuehel&prov=ap&type=lgns)
Melzer beat last year’s runner-up Potito Starace 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 on Saturday to reach his first final of the year, and Del Potro defeated Victor Hanescu 6-3, 7-6 (5).
The 19-year-old Del Potro will play his second career final, just one week after the Argentine won his first title in Stuttgart, Germany. Del Potro is 2-0 against Melzer after beating him in a 2007 Davis Cup match and in the second round of last year’s U.S. Open.
“It’s fantastic to be in a final again so soon,” said Del Potro, who could become the fifth Argentine winner of the clay-court event in the last six years. “I beat Jurgen twice before but that doesn’t mean anything as this is a different surface.”
Sunday’s final of the 63rd edition will be the last at Kitzbuehel, which is not included in the ATP calendar next year.
“It would be really great for me to become the last winner of Kitzbuehel,” said Melzer, whose only other ATP Tour title came in Bucarest, Romania, in 2006.
The sixth-seeded Melzer played serve-and-volley to put pressure on Starace’s baseline game.
Melzer to play del Potro in Austrian Open final (http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news;_ylt=AtBsPZSUANZtgR4.ETq0Xf04v7YF?slug=ap-kitzbuehel&prov=ap&type=lgns)