Milos Raonic overcomes Matthew Ebden in the first round – Hall of Fame Tennis Championships 2012
Canadian number one, Milos Raonic, came back after getting surprised in the first set to battle past 80th ranked, Matthew Ebden of Australia, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the opening round at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
in Newport, USA on Tuesday.
Raonic required one hour and 54 minutes to down the Australian player in a close match.
The Canadian and Ebden captured their serve in the first three games to take the score to 2-1 in the favour of the latter. The Australian grabbed a breakthrough in the fourth and consolidated on it to move ahead 4-1. He sustained
his lead until the end to clinch it 6-3.
Ebden fired a couple of aces but balanced that by committing two double faults. The Perth resident put away both break threats he came across and utilised one of the three opportunities he created in the opener.
The proceedings in the second set went exactly in the same manner as the first but this time they were in Raonic’s favour. The Canadian bounced back by snatching a break in the fourth game and holding his subsequent serve to attain
a 4-1 lead. The Canadian resident made the most of it to triumph 6-3.
Raonic made his opponent’s life difficult with the help of his huge first serves, as he bombarded nice aces on Ebden. The Canadian star grabbed 11 of the 13 first and nine of the 12 second delivery points. The 21-year-old did not
provide any break chance to the Australian contestant and availed one of the two of his own in the second set.
In the decider, Raonic and Ebden served brilliantly to take the score to 5-5. The Canadian player raised the level of his game at that crucial time and claimed two in a row, clinching it 7-5.
Raonic said, commenting on the proceedings of the match, “The surface is tough. There were a lot of tricky bounces. It’s more of an old-style grass court. You try not to get yourself in trouble.”
He added, “I was at 52 per cent on first serves which is not a good thing for me, but it was enough to get the job done… It’s about doing what you got to do to win and giving myself the opportunity to play better tennis tomorrow.”
The Canadian star will take on the German qualifier, Benjamin Becker, in the round of 16.
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