page_title: Jürgen Melzer
section_title: 2010: French Open semi-final
hierarchical_section_title: Jürgen Melzer / Career / 2010: French Open semi-final
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Open Aug. 30, 2010
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: Melzer lost in the first round of the Australian Open at the start of the season, but then reached the semifinals in Zagreb, losing to defending/eventual champion Marin Čilić. After a quarterfinal appearance in Rotterdam, where he lost to Nikolay Davydenko, Melzer reached the semifinals in Dubai, where he lost to Mikhail Youzhny. Later in the year, Melzer reached the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid, losing to Nicolás Almagro. Melzer followed this up with his best result in a Grand Slam to date by reaching the semifinals of the French Open. He beat Dudi Sela and Nicolas Mahut before he caused a significant upset by defeating ninth seed David Ferrer in straight sets, followed by a four-set win over Teymuraz Gabashvili (who had beaten Andy Roddick in the previous round), and by a five set triumph over Novak Djokovic, coming back from a two-set deficit for the first time in his career. He was eventually defeated by four-time champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
  Melzer followed this up by reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon, where he was defeated by Roger Federer in their first career meeting. However, at the same tournament, he achieved his greatest success by winning the doubles title with German partner Philipp Petzschner.
  After playing a few clay-court tournaments, reaching the final in one, and having good results in the others, Melzer moved on to the hard-court season, losing to Peter Polansky in the first round of Montreal and Ernests Gulbis in the second round of Cincinnati. He then played the US Open, where he reached the fourth round for the third consecutive Grand Slam tournament, having never been past the third round prior to the French Open. He played Roger Federer for a spot in the quarterfinals, having also played him in the fourth round of Wimbledon. Federer once again defeated him in straight sets.
  At the Shanghai Masters in October, Melzer recorded one of the biggest wins of his career against world no. 1 Rafael Nadal. This was Melzer's first victory against Nadal and the first time he had beaten a reigning no. 1. He then lost to Argentina's Juan Mónaco in the quarterfinals.
  In the last week of October, he won his third career title, defending his 2009 victory at the Vienna Open against his compatriot Andreas Haider-Maurer in a thrilling final; coming back from a set and a break down at 4–5 down (Haider-Maurer serving at 15–0) and three points away from defeat, to put up a heroic comeback and clinch the three set epic victory.
  On 3 November, he was named Austrian Sportsman of the Year.
  Melzer's final tournament of the year as a singles player was the Paris Masters, where he advanced to the quarterfinals, before losing to world no. 2 Roger Federer.
  As a result of winning the Wimbledon doubles championship, Melzer and his doubles partner Philipp Petzschner qualified for a doubles team spot in the ATP World Tour Finals, but his bid to qualify as a singles player ended when Andy Roddick defeated Ernests Gulbis in the third round of the Paris Masters, giving Roddick an insurmountable lead in qualifying points for the last individual spot in the ATP World Tour Finals.
caption: Melzer at the 2010 US Open
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "picnik.com", "Image DateTime": "2010:08:30 15:12:15", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "204", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:08:30 15:12:15", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:08:30 15:12:15", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "15437/1549", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "200", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3456", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1728000/437", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "384000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}