Melzer and Monfils Meet in Winston-Salem Finals

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Melzer and Monfils Meet in Winston-Salem Finals

By Erik Gudris/August 23, 2013

After an unpredictable week, two of the sport's more mercurial players - Jurgen Melzer and Gael Monfils will meet in the Winston-Salem Open finals.

(Photo Credit: AP)

The Winston-Salem Open lost its two biggest seeds, Tomas Berdych and John Isner, to withdrawals before the event began. That left the draw wide open for those left especially the four men battling in Friday's semifinals.

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In the first semi, No. 15 seed Gael Monfils of France faced off against No. 10 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov. Despite falling behind 0-4 in the opening set, Monfils then rallied to take the set in a tiebreak.

Monfils continued his control of the match by breaking Dolgopolov in the final game to secure the 7-6(9), 6-3 win.

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"It’s very good for my confidence. It was good to be down two breaks and to win the set," Monfils later said to ATP.com. "But I’m not so happy the way I played today. I think I need to play better. I think my best match I played here was against Tommy (Robredo), so hopefully tomorrow I will play better and show better tennis."

Melzer Manages Querrey in Semis

In a semifinal filled with momentum shifts to match the gusty wind swirling on court, Austria's Jurgen Melzer came out the winner over American Sam Querrey.

Melzer took hold of an early break of serve and used it to propel himself to a 6-2 first set. But though Melzer broke Querrey to start off the second set, the American started his own comeback. After breaking Melzer, Querrey would go on to win the set thanks to a backhand error from Melzer.

Gusty wind played havoc with both players as they entered the final set. Melzer gained an early break advantage that he never relinquished. A final ill-timed venture to the net from Querrey capped off the 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win for Melzer.

Winston-Salem is the second final of the year for Melzer. But Monfils leads the overall head to head 4-0.

Follow Erik Gudris on Twitter @ATNtennis