Jurgen Melzer continues his quest for a third successive Vienna title when he takes on South Africa's Kevin Anderson in the quarter-finals.
Melzer is going for a hat-trick of Vienna titles this week but it seems unlikely unless the home crowd can inspire something special out of him. He has not reached an ATP semi-final since April and has been struggling recently with a thigh injury.
However, after asking the organisers to postpone his opening match as late as possible, Melzer made it past Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 6-1 to reach the quarters.
"I did not start well in the match but I served well so I could rely on that," the Austrian said. "After the first couple of games, I felt more secure and he started to make some mistakes."
However he knows he faces a tough test against the huge serving Anderson who made light of a tough second round draw against Marcos Baghdatis, seeing off the Cypriot 6-2, 7-6(5).
"It's nice to come back home and play in front of your home crowd, especially when you have won the tournament two times," Melzer commented looking ahead to the quarters. "It's going to be a very difficult match [playing against Kevin Anderson]. He has a huge serve."
They have played just once before, Melzer winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 on the clay of Madrid last year.
However going by current form, look for Anderson to get revenge on Friday.
