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2/1/10 2:08 AM | Vincent Glenn
Austria’s Jurgen Melzer and Viktor Troicki of Serbia will headline the opening day of play at the Zagreb Indoors in Croatia.
Jurgen Melzer vs. Daniel Brands
Melzer will be facing Brands for the first time when they take to the court on Monday afternoon. Melzer started his season with a disappointing first-round loss to the little-known Australian Matthew Ebden in Brisbane. The Austrian then reached the quarterfinals in Auckland before being usurped in the opening-round of the Australian Open by Florent Serra. Melzer is currently No.32 in the world, six places below his highest ranking. He ended last season with victory over Marin Cilic in the final in Vienna, picking up the second title of his career in the process.
Brands is two places below his career-high of No.91 in the rankings. The German, however, has won just one tour-level match indoors. He began his year with an opening-round defeat to Kevin Kim in Chennai before falling to a straight-set loss to Evgeny Korolev at the Australian Open. Brands was making his third slam appearance in Melbourne having previously suffered first-round exits at the French Open in 2008 and 2009.
Melzer is a notoriously inconsistent player, but he can be dazzling on his day. He likes to serve and volley and his game works well indoors. He should have enough to overcome Brands in straight-sets.
Viktor Troicki vs. Rainer Schuettler
Troicki and Scheuttler have met on two previous occasions. Scheuttler clinched victory in their first encounter in Mumbai in 2007, but Troicki gained revenge last year when his straight-set win over the German helped Serbia claim the World Team Championship.
Troicki is seven places below his career-high ranking of 24. He made the final of Bangkok last season, losing to Gilles Simon. The Serbian No.2 started this year with a run to the semifinals of the Chennai Open before falling to Rafael Nadal and was then beaten by Marco Baghdatis in the second-round in Sydney. The World No.30 saw off Nicolas Lapentti in the opening-round of the Australian Open before being defeated by Florian Mayer.
Former world No.5 Schuettler is currently ranked just inside the top 100 at No.96. The German, who reached the final of the Australian Open in 2003, recorded an impressive victory over Sam Querrey in Melbourne this year before losing to Felicano Lopez in the second-round.
Schuettler is likely to find life difficult against an opponent who is nearly ten-years younger than him. Troicki can be an eye-catching player when his game is flowing and, although Schuettler will put up a fight, the Serb should wrap up the win in straight-sets.
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Rainer Schuettler
Viktor Troicki
PBZ Zagreb Indoors
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