Ryan Harrison battles past Marinko Matosevic in opener – BB&T Atlanta Open 2013
Local challenger, Ryan Harrison, took down Australian star, Marinko Matosevic, in a three-set thriller at the BB&T Atlanta Open 2013 on Monday. He nudged up a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory against the Aussie to secure a spot in the second round at this ATP World Tour 250 series event taking place in Atlanta, United States of America.
The American player displayed tremendous skills and abilities to outclass Matosevic at this first tournament of the Emirates Airline US Open Series. He reflected about his participation at this hard court event after pocketing the match,
“It was a lot of fun, it’s cool to get out here and play at an event like this. We are just excited to be part of it and be here in Atlanta. It’s always fun to be in the south, it’s where we grew up so we are glad to help out and do something like this.”
Harrison made a thunderous start to the match as he reeled off four straight games for a 4-0 lead. He then slid in his remaining serves with poise and pulled out the opener with a 6-2 score line.
The world number 73, Matosevic, showed signs of resistance in the second set. After Harrison held his serve in the fourth game, the Aussie went berserk and struck out the last four games, winning 6-2 win and dragging the match to another set.
In the deciding set, the 21-year-old regained his focus. He got the break in the fifth game and jumped to a 4-2 lead. The American sent in his remaining serves with conviction and capitalised on another break chance in the last game, subsequently sealing the decider by six games to three.
Harrison clobbered a poor first serve share of 47 per cent and committed seven double faults. However, he stayed focused and amazingly availed 33 out of 38 points on it. The American also fired seven aces to cover up for his several unforced errors.
The Louisiana native will square off against the third seed, Igor Sijsling in the next outing.
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