Memphis First Round

Draw
OOP
Livescores



Memphis plays on a fast, low-bouncing indoor plexiplave hardcourt which favours big servers with offensive games; Tommy Haas won it last year without even facing a single break point and previous winners also include Joachim Johansson, Taylor Dent, Philippoussis and Roddick.



Jurgen Melzer (AUT)

vs.

John Isner (USA)

Previous meetings: never played.

Former number 1 US college tennis player John Isner is becoming a regular in these smaller American hardcourt events and his run in San Jose last week has placed him in the top 100 for the first time in his career. So it was no suprise that he received a wildcard into the main draw here this week. His game is always dangerous if predictable, you know what you are going to get with him and what you aren’t; what you aren’t going to get is many chances to break or opportunities on his first serve.

Later tonight he will be first up in the afternoon session against Jurgen Melzer. Now on first glance with the crowd behind him and that gigantic serve you’d think this is a very winnable round for him against the #61 player in the world who hasn’t had any impressive results at ATP tour level in a long time… And in fact the bookmakers seem to agree with that, as Isner is just favourite by the slightest of margins.

However I think this match-up is very much balanced the other way. The bookmakers are ignoring how good Melzer is at frustrating huge servers, as illustrated by his 5-0 record over Dr Ivo (11-0 in sets) and other positive H2Hs he holds over the likes of Guccione, Ljubicic and Berdych. Against Ivo in particular he keeps the returns low and right back at the server’s feet, and in general is crafty enough to exploit the poor mobility of the taller players with slices, dropshots etc. Also being a lefty becomes a factor as it is much easier for a left-hander to serve to the backhand which is a big weakness for Isner, and I suspect Melzer will also target that side whenever he can in any baseline exchange.

Of course Melzer is not exactly the most mentally stable of players and with this being such a fast court the lottery of tiebreaks is almost certain to decide at least one of the sets so only medium stakes on this one for me, but everything points to the Austrian being the more likely player to get the crucial break or mini-break if in a TB, and as a slight underdog the value is surely with him. Good luck.

Melzer to beat Isner @ 2.10 (5 units to win 5.5 units) WIN

Result: Melzer def. Isner 6-7(8) 6-3 7-6(4)