Matthew Ebden storms Pablo Andujar in opening round – Rakuten Open 2011
With the first round of the Rakuten Open 2011 on its way, Matthew Ebden bombarded World No.45, Pablo Andujar, racketing away the match winning 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 in a long 2 hour and 26 minutes hard court match. Playing on Centre
court at Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan, and the 23-year-old Aussie mesmerized the crowd as he came back up a set down and finished up qualifying for the next round of the ATP Tour 500 event.
Serving out first, Ebden took the lead winning the first game of the match, 1-0. Following the Aussie, Andujar took over game 2 to level the scores at 1-1. Rallying out for the next game, the two equalled up at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and
then at 5-5 before the match jammed up in a tiebreaker.
Serving out the tiebreaker, 7-4, Andujar rushed away with the first set of the match winning 7-6(4) and took the lead 1-0.
With the second set on its way, Spaniard continued with serving first in the second set and rolled down the scoreboard, 1-0. With the Aussie levelling up next, the two battled out the next two games winning one each before the
tables turned, 2-2.
Breaking the Spaniard in game 5, Ebden mustered the following game as well to extend his lead to 4-2. Cutting down the lead, Andujar did pull back one game, 3-4, however, could not break back to level the scores. With two more
games left to bag the set, Ebden magnified his performance serving out 2 out of the next 3 games to conquer the set 6-4 and stood on level terms, 1-1.
The match flared up the Spaniard served first, however, fell short of winning on his serve and gave away the first game, 0-1. Nevertheless, Andujar pulled back breaking the Aussie in game 2 to level up the score, 1-1. Ebden, world
No.137, went marvellous when he broke the Spaniard for the second time in 3 games to lead the set 2-1.
Serving out game 4, the 23-year-old switched the serve and almost won a breakpoint in the next game as well, 2-4. Unable to break back, Andujar lagged behind as his young counterpart swirled away winning game on his respective
serve.
Finally, serving out game 10, Ebden shocked the Spaniard winning the decider with mere difficulty, 6-4, and drove off into the second stage of the ATP Tour 500 event.
The Aussie will now play the winner of the match between David Ferrer, Spaniard, and the Japanese 21-year-old, Kei Nishikori to battle it out for the quarterfinal round.
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