David Ferrer vs Matthew Ebden – Rakuten Open 2011: Preview
Third seeded Spaniard David Ferrer will square off against Australian qualifier Mathew Ebden, world number 137, in the second round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2011, an ATP World Tour 500 series event held on the outdoor hard courts in Koto, Tokyo, Japan.
Ranked 5th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Ferrer confidently marched into the Ariake Coliseum and a local tennis hero in straight sets to reach this spot. He led his country victorious against France in the David Cup before entering this event.
29-year-old Spaniard had an amazing season so far after clinching a title at Acapulco and making final berths at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Bastad. He lost to the top seeds in all of these tournaments. Ferrer made a semi-final berth at Australian open where he trashed Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the quarters, and made last eight appearances at Madrid and Nice. In addition to this, he made a fourth round showing at French open, Wimbledon and US Open this year.
The Durban native, Ebden on the other hand laboured into this spot after rallying past Spaniard Pablo Andujar in brutal three sets in two and half hours in the opening round match. Despite exiting from the opening round in Kuala Lumpur before entering these hard courts, the Aussie battled past Japanese Wild Card enterer Hiroyasu Ehara and qualifying second seeded Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu to make a main draw appearance.
23-year-old Aussie started off his season in great form as he made a quarter-final berth at Brisbane. However, his form dipped since and except from reaching a final eight spot at Newport, Ebden lost in the qualifiers or early rounds from all the ATP events he participated this year. He did however reach semi-finals in the Challenger series at Caloundra, Dallas and Cremona.
In the last match they played, the Spaniard clobbered a slightly lower first serve share of 64 percent but registered a brilliant 74 percent win on it. Furthermore, he fended off five out of seven breakpoints faced but cashed in on four out of ten breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to help clinch easily.
Ebden on the other side of net saved seven out of eight breakpoints faced but capitalised only on three out of eight breakpoint chances to his advantage. Spicing his stats further, the Aussie manifested a better first serve share of 67 percent and earned an impressive 74 percent win on it.
Both tennis stars are facing each other for the first time but the seed is looking highly positive to crush Ebden. Ferrer can face threat by the rising star Ebden but if he finds his rhythm quickly, the Spaniard can sweep past Ebden with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 score line.
The winner of the two will advance into quarter-finals to face either seventh seeded Czech Radek Stepanek or Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli.
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