Ryan Harrison outlasts Jack Sock in the opening round – Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012
In an epic clash between two local wild card entrants, Ryan Harrison outclassed Jack Sock in a three set thriller at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012 on Tuesday. Harrison registered a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory over his compatriot to advance into the second round at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 series event held in Memphis, Tennessee, United States.
The 19-year-old, Harrison, stayed solid throughout the match to oust the world number 306 in almost two hours. Meeting each other for the first time, he not only took lead in the FedEx ATP head-to-head series by 1-0 against Sock but also assertively entered the round of 16 at the Racquet Club of Memphis.
Ranked 73rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Harrison showed tremendous defensive skills in the opening set. The higher ranked dusted away all three breakpoints he came across and capitalised on one out of four break chances to clinch the set with a 6-3 score line.
The frustrated Sock on the other hand redeployed his strategy in the following set and after saving the only breakpoint faced, he slid entire serves. The lower ranked American then cashed in half of the four break opportunities to pull out the equaliser by winning six games to two.
The match was standing at a knife edge and the American who got the limelight was Harrison. The high flying teenager blocked both breakpoints he encountered and capitalised on the only break opportunity to seal the decider with a 6-4 win.
Summing up the conquering American’s performance, Harrison lost his track in the second set but dominated in the final set, subsequently outsmarting his compatriot. Regardless of manipulating a lower first serve share of 60 percent in contrast with Sock’s 65 percent, he impressively jolted down 45 out of 59 points and smacked nine aces to prevail.
Next challenge for the winning wild card entrant is the conqueror of the match between the fifth seed, Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Belgium’s Olivier Rochus. Harrison will be looking to improve his game and stay focused all the time to overpower a seeded player.
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