Albert Montanes scuttles past Matthew Ebden in the opening round – Estoril Open 2012
World number 69, Albert Montanes, defeated the 72nd ranked Aussie, Matthew Ebden, in the opening round of the Estoril Open on Tuesday. The veteran from Spain finished off the resistance from his counterpart in an hour
and 17 minutes; registering a straight sets 6-2, 6-3 triumph.
The Aussie started miserably against the seventh seed Spaniard; losing the opening serve game in fact failing to win a single point. Montanes didn’t squander the opportunity and converted the lead to two games with a decent serve
hold.
Both players held their serves in the following two games before the Spaniard took advantage of the pressure he had exerted on his competitor and broke serve for the second time in the set. Scores tickled over to 4-1 in the favour
of the seventh seed who further stamped his authority with a serve hold.
The opening game of the second set witnessed a gruelling battle between the two players but finally the seventh seed contestant converted the third breakpoint to his favour and took an early lead for the second time in the match.
Montanes won the next four points and registered a lead of 2-0. He continued the pressure on his competitor and won another breakthrough before gifting one back to Ebden in the sixth game. However, he still led the scores 4-2 at
that stage.
The seventh seed Spaniard kept on the pressure and didn’t lose the lead of that early breakpoint until the end. The Aussie starlet looked a bit bobbed down at the end and played half heartedly; seemed like he had already surrendered.
He lost another breakpoint in the ninth game of the set that was the last action registered in the match.
Albert Montanes smashed one ace and converted five of the allotted 13 opportunities to break serve. He won 64 points in total and converted a reasonable percentage of first and second serves in his favour. It was a complete performance
in all respects and he needs to repeat such a package now and then to make sure he climbs up few ranks before the final list for London Olympics in constructed in the last week of June. He must be amongst Top-64 players to get a direct entry in Olympics.
He still awaits the winner of the clash between the Bobby Reynolds and Attila Balazs. It is going to be an easy draw for the seventh seed who has won this tournament two times before and wants to be third time lucky.
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