Ebden/Harrison overpower Malisse/Russell to lift the crown – BB&T Atlanta Open 2012
Australian-American junction, Matthew Ebden and Ryan Harrison, rallied past the Belgian-American team, Xavier Malisse and Michael Russell, in a three-set mouth-watering battle at the BB&T Atlanta Open 2012 on Sunday. They nudged up a 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 victory
against their opponents to capture their second title together at this outdoor hard court tournament held in Georgia, United States.
The Australian-American tandem displayed amazing co-ordination to outmuscle Malisse and Russell in their first battle against each other. After earning the spotlight in one hour and 23 minutes, Ebden and Harrison lifted their maiden year-to-date title.
“The way we play, we always try to push forward and play aggressive. That’s the way both of us are comfortable playing. It comes down to execution for us,” Harrison quoted. “It doesn’t matter if its singles, doubles, triples or whatever it is. If you win
titles, you can always build off of it, so we’re really fired up.”
Ebden was quoted in a courtside interview after clinching the final battle:
“We had a few chances in the second set and felt like we weren’t playing our best tennis. We were pretty confident if we lifted our level a little, we’d come through.”
Ebden and Harrison made a powerful entry at these Georgian hard courts and drew the first blood in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. Regardless of losing their serve in the very next game, the Australian-American tandem cashed in their second break chance
and eventually served out the opener with a 6-3 win.
The Belgian-American pair rebounded in the follow-up set and held their serve in the opening game to take the initial lead. They warded off all four breakpoints they came across and got the breakthrough in the eighth game, eventually sealing equaliser by
winning six games to three.
The match was poised at a knife edge but the in-form collaboration of Ebden and Harrison shined again. They dominated in the super tie-breaker and subsequently clinched the decider with a 10-6 score line.
All in all, the Australian-American duo fired seven aces and produced a much better first serve share of 66 per cent as compared to their rivals’ 51 per cent. They also superbly marked 31 out of 39 points on it and finished the match with 61 points.
After triumphing over their opponents, Ebden successfully defended his title at this event. He conquered this tournament last year with Alex Bogomolov of Russia.
Ebden and Harrison bagged their second career title together. They previously steal the show at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport last circuit.
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