Melzer Delights Home Crowd In Kitzbuhel

Local favourite Gerald Melzer gave the home crowd something to cheer about by winning his first-round match on Tuesday at the Generali Open, rallying from a set down to prevail 5-7 7-5 6-4 over 2011 finalist Albert Montanes.

The victory on Centre Court avenged Melzer’s opening-round last year to Montanes in Kitzbuhel. Melzer, ranked No. 107 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, trailed 4-5 in the second set before winning the next five games. The win marked his first ATP World Tour main draw win of the season. He has been excelling on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning three titles in the first two months of 2016.

Next up for Melzer is qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver. The Spaniard won their only previous career meeting in 2014 in Hamburg.

In other first-round matches, sixth seed Dusan Lajovic withstood a difficult opening set before moving past Rogerio Dutra Silva, 7-6(7), 6-1. Eighth seed Jan-Lennard Struff saved all five break points against him and needed just 52 minutes to advance past wild card Akira Santillan, 6-2, 6-2.