Matthew Ebden ejects Ryan Harrison in the second round – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
Making into the main rounds from the qualifiers, Matthew Ebden of Australia continued his amazing run at the Shanghai Rolex Masters to defeat the 79th ranked American competitor, Ryan Harrison, in the second round clash on Wednesday afternoon.
The contest was staged on the outdoor hard courts of the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China, with the 124th ranked Aussie coming out as the winner. Ebden merely took 72 minutes of play to wrap up victory in straight sets, 6-4,
6-2, to make it to the third round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event.
19-year-old Harrison made a huge upset in the opening round, when he outplayed the 11th seed Serb, Viktor Troicki, in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, but utterly failed to repeat his feat in Wednesday’s matchup against the Australian. Ebden dominated
the contest for most of the time and faced no real trouble in disposing of the young American from the competition.
Banging 65 per cent of his serve on target, Ebden reeled off 32 out of 43 first serve points to edge past his opponent comprehensively. Harrison lagged far behind with merely 15 first serve points to finish on the losing side in the end. The American qualifier
had six opportunities to register a serve break and he converted just one of them, while suffering four cracking break points conversions from the aggressive Aussie in the matchup.
The first serve break of the contest came in the seventh game of the opener, with Harrison stepping up into a 4-3 lead early. Ebden responded immediately and nailed two crushing break points to seal the opening set to his name at 6-4, getting one up in the
contest.
Harrison slumped further in the next set and an early serve breaks from the Aussie qualifier shortly left him trailing 1-4. Ebden’s fourth break point conversion of the day marked an end to the contest, finishing off the second set at 6-2, to give a pass
to the third round of the tournament.
A tougher challenge waits Ebden in the round number three of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, as he will go one-on-one against the world number 12, Gilles Simon of France, for a place in the quarter-finals. Simon received a bye to the second round and then absolutely
devastated the unseeded Spaniard, Albert Montanes, in straight sets 6-1, 6-1, to book a clash with Ebden in the round of 16.
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