Jurgen Melzer takes on Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
Melzer is a double Vienna champion having triumphed in his home event for the past two years. He's third seed this year but he faces a tough ask to make it a hat-trick of titles with the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin Del Potro in the field.
First of all though Melzer will be focusing on getting past the first hurdle and that is far from a given. His form has been pretty poor since the spring clay-court swing and he's slipped to 25 in the rankings. He needs a decent week with quite a few points to defend before the season is out.
He's playing Garcia-Lopez for the third time in their careers. They are 1-1 on the head-to-head with the Spaniard winning their last match in San Jose back in 2008. However Garcia-Lopez is in decent form this week after stunning in-form James Blake in the first round.
Blake made the semis in Stockholm last week but Garcia-Lopez sent him crashing out 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Expect the Spaniard to spring another upset in three sets.
