Matthew Ebden ousts Phillip Simmonds to move into main draw – Legg Mason Tennis Classic 2011
Qualifying top seed, Australian Matthew Ebden sailed past American Philip Simmonds, seeded twelfth in the qualifiers’ final round match at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, Washington D.C. Ebden is now through to the main draws of
the ATP World Tour 500 tournament, a premier Olympus US Open Series event. The one hour twenty two minutes long eventful match closed at 7-6(4), 6-3. Fifth seed Tim Smyczek and seventh seed Rajeev Ram were the only American qualifiers to the main draws of
the prestigious event, otherwise dominated by Australians. First round play began on Sunday, with a match between Tobias Kamke and Denis Kudla.
The 23 year old top seed Ebden came into the tournament with a decent win loss mark of 5-6 and had previously defeated American Mitchell Frank 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in his opening match round at the qualifiers. The 140th ranked Australian
has previously reached the quarter finals twice this season, at Newport early July and at Brisbane in January. He lost to tennis giant Rafael Nadal 4-6, 4-6 at the London Queen’s Club in June this year.
American Simmonds standing at a dismal 0-1 win loss record has been unable to make an indelible mark at the ATP Tour circuit. He’s been active at the Futures and Challenger circuits, winning a couple of titles building his skill
and confidence. He recently re-entered the main tour by playing Atlanta and Los Angeles. Simmonds qualified to the main draws at Atlanta but won his first round match. In Los Angeles recently, the American lost miserably in the opening qualifier of the event.
Simmonds last played at the Washington tournament in 2005. This is the pair’s first meeting.
The first set proved to be a closely contested nail biter. Simmonds played the opening game of the set and scores steadily built up remaining within fighting distance of each other throughout. Ebden served at 58% and managed to
win 19 points off 26 serves, markedly lower than his opponent’s appreciable serving percentage at 68%. Simmonds won 91% first serve points from these serves. However it was Ebden’s ability to ward off all of the two serve break opportunities that enabled him
to wrestle on. The set was decided by a tie break, with a reinvigorated Ebden forging ahead by limiting his opponent to just 4 points.
The second set progressed more quickly and easily for the Australian. Ebden broke Simmonds’ serve in the second game of this set, leaving him trailing 2-0. Simmonds pulled off a rare serve break in the 7th game taking
the score to 4-3. However, the Australian quickly regained the lead by breaking his opponent’s serve in the very next game again. This proved to be too much for Simmonds and he didn’t make an attempt at a comeback again. The set closed at 6-3, marking an effortless
win for Ebden.
Ebden will now play his opening round match in the main draws against fellow qualifier Rajeev Ram, from the US on Monday. They’ll battle it out for a place in the second round against Nikolay Davydenko, seeded at nine in the main
draws.
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