Eric Prodon rallies pass Colin Ebelthite in the second round – The Hague Open 2011 CH
Seeded at number three in the tournament, Eric Prodon of France won his second round clash against the Australian qualifier, Colin Ebelthite, at The Hague Open on Thursday.
Being played at Scheveningen, Netherlands, the 30-year-old French veteran took down his opponent in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, to book a place in the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour
event.
26-year-old Ebelthite hung in the game for just one hour and seventeen minutes before crumbling in the second set to let the third seed away with victory. It pretty one-sided matchup, with the French domination prevailing most
of the times. Prodon looked in a really aggressive mood throughout the competition and made the most of his opportunities in the contest to eventually come out as the winner.
The French veteran banged 67 per cent of his first serve on target in the opener and clinched 15 out of 22 points on it to get the competitive advantage in the game. Prodon drew the first blood in the third game of the match to
break into a 2-1 lead but Ebelthite retaliated immediately to level the scores at 4-4 with a break point conversion.
Ebelthite had six opportunities to break the French serve in the opening set but converted just one of them to remain on the back foot in the matchup. Prodon stung a vital serve break in the ninth game to reach set point and then
closed the opener at 6-4 with a cracking forehand winner.
Prodon took off the second set with fiery aces to gain some un-fought points in the contest despite of his 50 per cent serve precision, he reeled off 13 out of 17 first serve points to get a commanding position in the set. Ebelthite
converted one of his four break opportunities but two agonising serve breaks from Prodon left him hopeless in the contest. The French cashed in his first match point in the 10 game to seal victory at 6-4, advancing forward to the round of eight at The Hague
Open.
The Australian had a total of 10 opportunities to break his opponent’s serve but he squandered away eight of those chances to finish on the losing side in the end. Prodon will feature the quarter-final match on Friday, when he
will compete against Dusan Lojda of Czech Republic for a place in the semis of the Challenger Tour event. Lojda defeated the German competitor, Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-4, 6-2, in the second round clash to book a date with Prodon in the quarters.
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