Radek Stepanek moves into the second round; Matthew Ebden departs – Brisbane International 2012
It was a disappointing view for the Aussie fans to see their prolific performer, Matthew Ebden, bowing out to the Czech competitor, Radek Stepanek, after a hard fought battle of two hours and 12 minutes. The enthralling three-setter
encounter was contested in the first round of Brisbane International tournament on Tuesday, January 3rd, with the sixth seeded veteran, Stepanek, nailing down the local participant with a final score of 6-4,3-6, 6-3.
Both players started the match cautiously, as they were squaring off against one another for the first time in their professional career. The contest was pretty monotonous as both the players held on to their serves for the
first eight games. Fans were behind their local hero and wanted him to bring some glory to them with some eye-startling game play but Ebden seemed to have buried under the pressure of performing well against the sixth seed Czech.
Ninth game of the set saw Stepanek taking on his younger rival and breaking his serve with some breathtaking perfectly placed drop shots. Pin drop silence was observed as Stepanek smashed couple of aces to round off the set
in his favour.
Ebden pulled up his socks and returned as an improved player on the courts. He commenced the proceedings with a couple of aces and cracked up the sixth seed with some enthralling shots down the line on his serves that helped
him to earn a break point and take 2-0 lead; holding on to his serve in the third game gave him the 3-0 lead. Crowd was roaring at that moment and cheered every point won by their local boy.
With not much drama afterwards and sixth seed Czech failing to break back to level the score, Ebden levelled the match scores at one set apiece to enforce a decisive third set. Fans were pumping their hero to stun everyone
with the triumph against the superior ranked competitor but it went the other way round.
The Czech veteran proved to be a tough competitor, mentally and technically, in the last set of the match and utilized his stamina to its optimum use. Slow start to the third set saw both players holding on to their respective
serves in the first three games but again the inexperience of Ebden erupted, as he lost the game on his serve due to several unforced errors; couple of double faults and one tamed return straight in the net proved to be his downfall. He couldn’t recover from
that trail and lost the game.
Radek Stepanek will square off against the Finn, Jarkko Nieminen, in the second round contest.
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