Melzer Begins Title Defence; Tsonga Focused On Finals Task

© e|motion/zolles.comTommy Haas, the 2000 runner-up and 2001 titlist, has a 19-7 tournament record in Vienna.

Two-time defending champion Jurgen Melzer, the No. 3 seed at this week's Erste Bank Open, booked his place in the quarter-finals Thursday with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. It was Melzer's 20th match win at the ATP World Tour 250 indoor tennis tournament in Vienna.

The 30-year-old Austrian, who beat Marin Cilic in the 2009 final and his compatriot Andreas Haider-Maurer in last year's title match, saved all five break points he faced for victory in 84 minutes. He has a 22-22 match record on the season.

"It's nice to come back home and play in front of your home crowd, especially when you have won the tournament two times," said Melzer. "It's going to be a very difficult match [playing against Kevin Anderson]. He has a huge serve."

Melzer has qualified for the doubles competition at next month's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London with Philipp Petzschner. The pair won the US Open, their second Grand Slam championship title, in September.

Top seed and Barclays ATP World Tour Finals contender Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to the quarter-finals when Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, a finalist last week in Stockholm, retired from their match with a right hip injury after 65 minutes of play. After dropping his opening service game and winning just five points on Nieminen's serve in the first set, Tsonga had come back strong to build a 3-6, 6-1, 3-1 lead.

"It was difficult at the beginning, the first set was tough for me," Tsonga said. "Jarkko played well, but during the match I played better and better... It's good for me because I have the chance to go through and play another round and get some points for the [Barclays ATP World Tour Finals]."

The Frenchman currently holds down the eighth spot in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Year-To-Date Rankings with less than three weeks to go in the regular ATP World Tour season. Five players have already qualified for the season finale, to be held next month at The O2, leaving three spots up for grabs.

Tsonga will next face veteran Belgian Xavier Malisse during Thursday's evening session. Malisse overcame eighth-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3 in two hours. 

"It's going to be difficult," said Tsonga of playing Malisse. "I lost to him at the beginning of the year, but I will try to take revenge."

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German Tommy Haas reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final in 26 months, when he defeated fellow qualifier Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 43 minutes. In a big-serving encounter, 2001 champion Haas won 71 per cent of his service points and hit 10 aces against World No. 204 Bedene, who fired down 12 aces and converted two of six break point opportunities.

The 33-year-old Haas last reached an ATP World Tour quarter-final at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington in August 2009. He has a 19-7 tournament record in Vienna and will next meet second-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.

Another German qualifier, Daniel Brands, dropped 14 points on serve and hit seven aces to beat fourth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-6(4) in 81 minutes. Brands goes onto meet Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis, who overwhelmed 18-year-old Austrian wild card Dominic Thiem, this year's junior Roland Garros finalist, 6-2, 6-2 in 65 minutes.