Yannick Ebbinghaus overcomes Purav Raja in the opening qualifier – Health City Open 2012 CH
Yannick Ebbinghaus of the Netherlands defeated India’s Purav Raja in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the first round of the qualifying draw at the Health City Open in Scheveningen on Saturday.
The Dutch player took an hour and 33 minutes to get past his opponent in a close match.
Ebbinghaus and Raja held their serve in the first seven games to take the score to 4-3 in favour of the former. The Dutch contestant hit a blow to his Indian opponent in the eighth and consolidated on it to win 6-3.
Ranked 1276th in the world, Ebbinghaus smacked one ace but committed two double faults in the opening set. He kept his first serve percentage at 62 and claimed 16 of the 21 points on them. The Dutch player did not face
any break point and converted one of the three he received.
Ebbinghaus and Raja started the second set by holding their respective serve in the first two games to level the proceedings at 1-1. The Indian started to dominate later on, as he captured three in a row to race to a 4-1 advantage.
Raja sustained his lead till the end to win it 6-3.
The Indian contender banged in a couple of aces and also committed the same number of double faults. The 26-year-old converted 15 of the 19 first and seven of the 13 second delivery points. He did quite well on the replies to his
rival’s first serves, winning 10 of the 19 points on them.
In the third set, Raja and Ebbinghaus won their serve in the opening three games to take the score to 2-1 in the latter’s favour. The Dutch participant claimed breakthroughs in the fourth and sixth game, capitalising on both of
them to capture it 6-1.
Ebbinghaus gave an almost flawless performance on his serves, grabbing 10 of the 11 first and six of the eight second delivery points. The 22-year-old responded aggressively to Raja second serves, as he pocketed seven of the nine
points on them. The Dutch player utilised two of the seven break opportunities he created in the final set.
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