Jurgen Melzer of Austria celebrates with the trophy after defeating Gael Monfils of France after Monfils retired due to an injury in their final at the Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University, yesterday.
WINSTON-SALEM, United States/North Carolina: Austrian veteran Jurgen Melzer won the ATP Winston-Salem Open yesterday as Frenchman Gael Monfils quit with an abdominal muscle injury while trailing 6-3, 2-1.
The 15th-seeded Monfils was unable to go on after playing the third game of the second set.
He was already down a break in the set when he took a medical time out, opting not to continue and handing ninth-seeded Melzer a fifth career title.
In the semi-finals, Monfils shrugged off pain in his left hip to reach his second ATP final of the season.
The French 15th seed defeated 10th-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6 (11/9), 6-3 to advance to the title match of this US Open tuneup.
Melzer, was a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 winner over sixth-seeded American Sam Querrey.
The win was the first for the 32-year-old Austrian over Querry after two defeats.
Monfils called for the trainer after just 11 minutes on court, having surrendered two breaks of serve to trail Dolgopolov 0-3.
But after a consultation and on-court treatment, he changed his attitude and got on with the job of mounting a comeback.
“I had thigh muscle pain which was going to my hip. The trainer told me I was just tight,” Monfils said.
“When we resumed I told myself to focus on the match, not the pain.
“OK, I have some pain but it’s no reason not to play tough. I just needed to focus less on my body.
“I tried to keep it simple and it worked,” added Monfils. “I needed to get my rhythm back.”
Monfils kept the pressure on Dolgopolov, who faced 13 break points in the contest.
In the first set, the Ukrainian double-faulted to lose the sixth game for 4-2 and then found himself at 5-all after saving one break point but then netting a backhand on another.
In the tiebreaker, Monfils saved three set points and won the opener on his own second chance.
The victory was Monfils’ second over Dolgopolov this year. He also won their Australian Open first-round meeting. AFP
