Melzer wins the title in Winston-Salem against a retiring Monfils

What a pity for Gael Monfils, it seems he is always there to win a title and then something always happen.

Gael had a very good tournament to beat very dangerous players such as Robredo, Verdasco and Dolgolopov.  He could have been the favourite in the final against Melzer, but a hip injury changed the things quite dramatically.

A very solid Melzer had all chances to lead this match to win a comfortable opening set 6-3 and then lead 2-1 in the second. The Frenchman was clearly dented by his injury especially when serving to eventually retire. Match Stats

Melzer: I was trying to focus on my things

This is Jurgen’s 5th career title. The former world no.8 commented “He’s such a great player, so I was trying to focus on my things that I’ve been doing well this week.

I was trying to be aggressive and go to the net as much as I could. The game before he retired he was serving really slowly and I missed a lot of returns because I knew if I broke him it could be the end and you get a little tight.

Nobody wants to win a final like that, you want to be out there competing, but at the end of the day you take the title.”

 

Monfils:  It was really painful

A disappointed Monfils commented “I started to feel it yesterday.

I had a sharp pain. After about 50 minutes, I tried to serve at full speed, and that was it. I felt like something snapped a little bit and it was really painful. It was tough to continue. I will try to get an x-ray tonight and see what’s going on.”

Gael should play the first round at the US Open against world no. 106 Adrian Agur. Melzer will play the opener in New York against world no.83 Evgeny Donskoy