Gerald Melzer is the third Austrian to survive the first qualifying round at the US Open.
Austria’s number two defeated Darian King from Barbados 7:5, 4:6, 6:3 after 2:35 hours of patience. Left-handed Gerald Melzer could now take revenge in the next round against Kenny De Schepper on his brother Jürgen, who lost 6:7, 2:6 to the Frenchman on Wednesday in the opening round of qualification.
The 37-year-old veteran Jürgen Melzer had awarded three set points in a row in the tiebreak. The dream of a duel between the brothers and Gerald, nine years his junior, also collapsed. The world ranking- 133rd from Vienna finally made three points more than King (110:107). There were 25 break points in the game, Gerald Melzer took the service off his opponent four times, while he lost his serve three times.
On Tuesday Dennis Novak and Sebastian Ofner had already reached the second qualifying round in the Big Apple. Lucas Miedler and Maximilian Neuchrist retired. No player from the ÖTV squad is in the field for the women.