Debutant De Jong advances to second round of Wimbledon after five-setter
Tennis player Jesper de Jong made an excellent debut at Wimbledon. The 25-year-old Dutchman defeated American Christopher Eubanks in the first round on court 7 with 6-3 6-7 (5) 6-7 (7) 6-3 7-6 (3). De Jong did not lose his serve once in the entire match. He will play Miomir Kecmanovic from Serbia in the second round.
De Jong is having a reasonably good season. In May of this year he reached his highest ranking ever with the 87th position. In recent weeks De Jong dropped back a bit and started the third grand slam tournament of the year as number 106.
At Roland Garros, De Jong reached the second round. This year, he will play for the first time in the main tournament of The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
The Haarlem native seemed to feel right at home on the grass in London. De Jong won his first service game on love and then immediately broke Eubanks. He kept serving well and won the set without any problems.
In the second set, Eubanks showed why he reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon two years ago. The tall American lost four break points, but still struck in the tiebreak: 1-1. In the tiebreak of the third set, De Jong had one chance to regain the lead, but a few poor service turns proved fatal.
De Jong was not discouraged and came back nicely thanks to two breaks in the fourth set: 2-2. In the fifth set it was again equal until 6-6, after which the Dutchman was supreme in the super tiebreak.
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