US Open doubles champion Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner are eager to keep their momentum going ahead of the year-ender ATP World Tour Finals in London at the ongoing Malaysian Open.
"We are in good form especially after just coming off a big win at the US Open. We definitely want to win here," said Melzer at Central Market in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
"We are the top seeds, so we will look to live up to that, but having said that we are also the pair to beat in this competition. We need to be careful as there are many good players here."
The World No 5 Austrian-German combination have won five titles including last year's Wimbledon since coming onto the scene as a pair early last year. At the Malaysian Open, they will open their campaign against Russia's Mikhail Elgin and Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin.
Petzschner, however, fears that the heat could affect their rhythm and performance in Kuala Lumpur.
"Now the tour is moving into the Asian swing and we may need a few days to adapt to the temperatures and conditions here," said Petzschner, the German half of the partnership.
Despite their success in the doubles, Melzer and Petzschner stressed that the singles were their priority.
"We are good because doubles is not our main priority. We mainly focus on singles... so that allows us to be more relaxed when we play doubles."
"It is quite difficult to balance singles and doubles but we find a way. We are also very good friends and have good understanding with each other. If one of us goes far in the singles (like reaching the semis or final) we try to find a way out of the doubles to focus on singles," said Melzer.
The United States' Eric Butorac and Netherlands Antilles' Jean Julien Roger, the second seeds, together with the Czech Republic and Slovakia combination of Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek, the third seeds, are among the favourites in the doubles which starts today.
Butorac-Roger face Malaysia's Si Yew Ming and Ryan Harrison of the US while Cermak-Polasek face local pair Ahmad Deedat Abdul Razak-Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam, who received the tournament's third wild card.
