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Matt Ebden will look to continue his impressive grass form when he takes on Slovenian Blaz Rola in the opening round of Wimbledon. Join The Roar for live scores of the match from around midnight (AEST).
After starting the year at 264 in the world, and falling to as low as 359 in April, Ebden has rocketed back up the rankings in the last two months.
Playing on the ATP Challenger circuit, with a clean bill of health, Ebden has made three quarter finals, three semi-finals, and two finals in his last eight events.
Since moving to grass, at the start of June, Ebden has won 11 out of his last 13 matches and won the title at the Surbiton Challenger.
He got rewarded for that win with a wildcard into Wimbledon and moved back into the top 150 in the world.
The West Australian will now try to build towards a top 100 ranking, and a spot in the US Open, by performing well at Wimbledon.
He has a nice draw to do that as well with the Aussie facing Rola in the opening match.
Rola, who played college tennis in the United States until 2013, has been in and around the top 100 for the last year.
He has won two Challenger titles in his career and made the second round of Wimbledon last year.
His record on grass is six wins and five losses in just under 12 months of play on it.
Those wins, to a large extent, have come against clay court specialists who struggle on the surface.
Ebden isn’t one of those players and is heavily favoured by the bookies.
He has also has won their only meeting in Toyota when the Australian was on his hot streak at the end of 2013.
While he may be ranked lower than Rola at the moment, he has reached 61 in the world in 2012, and is back to the form that got him in the top 100 in both 2012 and 2013.
His form on grass, compared to the Slovenian, is also far better.
If Ebden plays like he has been during the grass season, he should win this match. His serve needs to be strong and he needs to utilise his forehand to hit plenty of winners.
This is really the ideal match-up for Ebden to win his first ever main draw match the Championships.
Rola shouldn’t trouble him and he should make the second round for the first time in his career.
Prediction: Matt Ebden 3-0
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