page_title: Jürgen Melzer
section_title: 2007–2009
hierarchical_section_title: Jürgen Melzer / Career / 2007–2009
caption_attribution_description: Jürgen Melzer at 2008 US Open
context_page_description: Jürgen Melzer is an Austrian professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He is a left-handed tennis player, but is right-handed in everyday life. He has a younger brother, Gerald Melzer, with whom he has played doubles in several tournaments.
  In 1999, he won the boys' singles event at Wimbledon. For many years, he was known as one of the best players on the tour not to have progressed past the third round of a Grand Slam event. He ended this streak by reaching the semifinals of the French Open in 2010, losing to Rafael Nadal after coming from two sets down to defeat Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. As of January 2020, he remains the only person to defeat Djokovic from two sets to love down. He has also had success in doubles, winning the men's doubles event at Wimbledon in 2010 and the US Open in 2011 with Philipp Petzschner, as well as the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon in 2011 with his then future wife Iveta Benešová.
context_section_description: In 2007, Melzer began the year with a first-round exit at the 2007 Qatar ExxonMobil Open and a semifinal exit at the 2007 Medibank International, withdrawing against James Blake. Melzer reached the second rounds of the 2007 Australian Open, the 2007 M.K. Championships, the 2007 Indian Wells Masters, and the 2007 Miami Masters. He also reached the final of the 2007 Tennis Channel Open, losing to Lleyton Hewitt. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships and the 2007 BMW Open. In the Masters Series on clay, he lost in the first rounds of the 2007 Monte Carlo Masters and the 2007 Rome Masters, and the third round of the 2007 Hamburg Masters, losing to Fernando González. After that, he suffered back-to-back losses to Juan Mónaco in the 2007 Hypo Group Tennis International and the 2007 French Open. He then suffered a left wrist injury in his first-round loss to Nikolay Davydenko in the 2007 Gerry Weber Open which caused him to miss two months of tennis, including Wimbledon. He came back at the 2007 Cincinnati Masters, reaching the third round and losing to Lleyton Hewitt. From then on, he was unable to secure back-to-back wins.
  In 2008, Melzer reached the second round of his first three tournaments, including the 2008 Australian Open. He again failed to secure back-to-back wins, compiling a 3–9 record in his next nine tournaments and putting him out of the top 100 since April 2003. It was not until the 2008 Hypo Group Tennis International that he recorded back-to-back wins by reaching the quarterfinals, losing to Igor Kunitsyn in three sets. He carried his good performance through the 2008 French Open with a third-round exit to Frenchman Gaël Monfils, having led two sets to one. On grass, he was able to reach the quarterfinals of the 2008 Ordina Open and the third round at Wimbledon. He then returned to clay at the 2008 Austrian Open and reached his seventh final, but lost once again to Juan Martín del Potro. Melzer made a good performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by reaching the final eight, losing to eventual gold medalist Rafael Nadal. He then had a good performance by reaching the third rounds of the 2008 Pilot Pen Tennis and the 2008 US Open. Melzer made a good year end with quarterfinal results in the 2008 Thailand Open and the 2008 Bank Austria-TennisTrophy, which put him back to the top 40.
  In 2009, Melzer again made a poor first quarter of the year, only managing one back-to-back win in his first ten tournaments, and it was at the 2009 Australian Open, where he reached the third round, losing to Andy Murray. It was not until the 2009 Internazionali BNL d'Italia that he recorded back-to-back wins, including a win over Nikolay Davydenko, but lost to Fernando González in the following round. He then reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbühel and the 2009 Gerry Weber Open once again, and the third round of the 2009 French Open and Wimbledon for the second year in a row. He reach his first semifinal of a year at the 2009 ATP Studena Croatia Open Umag, but lost to eventual champion Nikolay Davydenko. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis with a victory over Victor Hănescu, but lost in the following round to Fernando Verdasco. In the semifinal of 2009 PTT Thailand Open Melzer lost to eventual champion Gilles Simonin two sets. At the 2009 Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, Melzer defeated a then-world no. 5 Juan Martín del Potro, before losing to Feliciano López. This was his second victory over a top-5 player. The first was his win over a then-world no. 2 Tommy Haas in 2002. He ended 2009 on a high note by winning his second career title at the 2009 Bank Austria-TennisTrophy over Marin Čilić in straight sets, which included a victory over Radek Štěpánek in the quarterfinals.
caption: Melzer at the 2008 US Open
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