There could soon be a player ranked within the top 100 of men’s tennis with the surname Melzer. But his first name isn’t Jurgen. Instead, the former Top 10 star’s younger brother Gerald is making a massive move up the rankings, as he secured his second Challenger title of the year by defeating veteran Italian Paolo Lorenzi in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 in Bucaramanga.
The Austrian, who at 25, is nine years his famous brother’s junior, is ranked at 140 in the world though that is set to change when the updated results come out tomorrow.
The win over Lorenzi was a surprise to be sure, as the Italian has dominated clay Challenger events in recent times, winning four titles in 2015, and starting 2016 well by winning in Canberra. Melzer though, put an end to Lorenzi’s hopes this week, dominating the thirty-four year old, breaking five times, and limiting the Italian to a dismal forty-one percent win record on serve in the second.
Melzer, who won the Mendoza Challenger in Argentina earlier this year, benefited from a fortunate draw all the way to the final, as he faced no seeded players in the form of Maximilliano Estevez, Hans Podlipnik-Castillo, Eduardo Struvay, and Mathias Bourgue, though despite not being seeded, all of the players have good clay records. Melzer completely earned the title by defeating the second seed Lorenzi.
Melzer is not in action next week, but Lorenzi is seeded sixth at the ATP 250 event in Quito, where he starts against wildcard Gonzalo Escobar.
