Toshihide Matsui upsets Rajeev Ram to clear the opening round – Dunlop World Challenge 2012 CH
Local qualifier, Toshihide Matsui, stunned the second seeded American competitor, Rajeev Ram, in the opening round of Dunlop World Challenge on Tuesday afternoon. He took one hour and 36 minutes of play to wrap up the proceedings
in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, booking a berth in the pre-quarter-final round of the ATP Challenger Tour in Toyota, Japan.
It was a fairly one-sided contest, with Matsui dominating for most of the time in the matchup. Ram posted some early resistance in the opening set but all his steam ran out in the later parts of the competition. It was the first
encounter of these two players and Matsui took limited time to get under the skin of the American. The 34-year-old Japanese veteran used his vast experience and convincingly disposed of Ram in straight sets.
Matsui took a flying start in the opening set and broke his opponent in his very first serve game to impose a 3-0 lead in no time. Second seeded Ram registered his only break point of the match in the fifth game and
held his own serve to level the score line to 3-3. He could hold just one more serve in the opener before Matsui delivered the decisive blow in the 10th game, sealing the first set at 6-4.
The following set took off in exactly the similar manner, with the Japanese veteran breaking his opponent in the second game and imposing a 3-0 lead. However, Ram could not come up with any break point, frittering away three priceless
opportunities and remained on the back foot all the way. Matsui kept his lead intact and just cruised through the remaining games of the set to seal victory at 6-3, moving into the second round of Dunlop World Challenge.
Matsui delivered 69 per cent of his first serve on target, including five aces and securing 38 out of 57 points on it. He converted three out of seven break points, whilst the American loser squandered eight opportunities to break
his opponent in the match. Matsui will face Mirza Basic in his next matchup of the tournament on Thursday.
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