Julien Benneteau trounces Matthew Ebden to reach quarters – Proton Malaysian Open 2012
Seventh seed, Julien Benneteau from France, got the better of the Australian challenger, Matthew Ebden, in straight sets at the Proton Malaysian Open 2012 on Wednesday. He juggled up 7-5, 6-2 success against the Durban native to secure a place in the final
eight at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 Series event held in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.
The seeded French showed his class to outmuscle Ebden in their second meeting at this indoor hard court event. After jolting the victory in one hour and 14 minutes, Benneteau not only avenged his loss at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells earlier this
season but also levelled the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head Series by 1-1 against the world number 64.
Benneteau made a convincing start at the Putra Indoor Stadium in Bukit Jalil. He got the coveted break in the seventh game and jumped to a 5-3 lead. Regardless of levelling the scores in the 10th game, the French capitalised on another break chance
in the very next game and eventually sealed the victory with a 7-5 score line.
Ranked 34th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Benneteau kept momentum running towards the following set. He broke the Aussie’s opening serve and jumped to a 2-0 lead. Later, the French plucked his remaining serves with poise
and cashed in another break chance in the seventh game, ultimately clicking the set with a 6-2 success.
On the whole, the seed fired five aces and prevailed throughout the match. He produced a lower first serve share of 65 per cent as opposed to his rival’s 69 per cent but impressively marked 28 out of 36 points on it.
The 30-year-old will face off the conqueror of the match between fourth seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov and the Colombian contender, Alejandro Falla.
In the only other second round duel of this event, Canada’s Vasek Pospisil trashed the American qualifier, Michael Yani, in straight sets to enter the quarter-finals. The world number 122 required a single break of serve in each set to overpower Yani in
one hour and 50 minutes.
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