Jurgen Melzer begins his Winston-Salem campaign against Igor Andreev this evening.
It's not been a particularly happy summer for Melzer who risks tumbling out of the top 20 if he makes an early exit at the US Open. The Austrian was on his way to a career high of eight in the world this time last year but instead this time round he suffered an injury in Washington and then made a first round exit at Cincinnati.
While Melzer's doubles career has taken off (he won Wimbledon last year with Philipp Petzschner) his singles game has stalled. A flair player, Melzer has often struggled with consistency and he's hit a bit of his slump, something his close knit team needs to try and sort out.
There's every chance he can start to put things right this week as with no top ten players in the draw it really is anyone's title. Melzer is seeded second and he's got to try and deal with Russia's Andreev tonight who battled past teenage prospect Bernard Tomic in three sets on Sunday night.
They have played a lot in the past and although Melzer leads the head-to-head 4-1, most of those clashes were many years ago.
Prediction: Melzer in three.
