Jürgen Melzer has lost his opening match against the Italian Marco Cecchinato in two sets at the 43,000 Euro clay court Challenger in Marbella.
First the good news: Jürgen Melzer will compete with Austria’s Davis Cup team at the 6/7. He will travel to Russia on April 4 to get a place in the relegation for promotion to the World Group. The veteran was appointed by Captain Stefan Koubek to the red-white-red squad this Tuesday.
Whether the former number eight of the world after his elbow operation at the beginning of October can be a sporty reinforcement, however, must be doubted. Melzer, who played in the first qualifying round of Wimbledon in early July at his last match so far, lost 6-1 and 7-6 (1) to third seed Marco Cecchinato at the ATP Challenger tournament in Marbella, Spain.
After quickly falling behind with the double break in the first set, the wildcard holder was at least able to keep the game open for a long time in the second set.
In the doubles match it went better for Austria’s longtime number one: At the side of Adrian Menendez-Maceiras from Spain Melzer won 0:6, 6:1 and 10:5 against the top seeded pairing Hans Podlipnik-Castillo/Andrei Vasilevski (Chile/Belarus).
Sebastian Ofner meets Spain’s former top ten player Tommy Robredo in his opening match.
Click here for the single tableau in Marbella