- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Australian charge at Wimbledon continues with Matthew Ebden looking to put his career-best form into practice against Stephane Robert in the second round. Join The Roar for live scores from around 10:30pm (AEST).
Ebden had a shock victory in the first round, knocking the number ten David Goffin out of the tournament at the first hurdle.
It was a stunning victory for the Australian, but then maybe not as surprising as it otherwise would have been given his stunning run of form.
Ebden, who will crack the top 50 with his first-round win at Wimbledon and could go a long way to being seeded at the US Open if he continues to win, had two semi-finals and a quarter-final appearance in his three tournaments on grass before Wimbledon.
The victory over Goffin saw him attack the net, averaging more than 20 approaches per set. It allowed him to plant the Belgian – who is more suited to clay – behind the baseline, with Ebden taking full advantage. It ended in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Robert is, in some ways, a similar player in that he doesn’t have a thunderous serve or amazing net game to trouble the Australian with.
That should play right into Ebden’s hands as he looks to play a very similar style of match this time around. At 38 years of age, this may well be Robert’s final year on the tour, but he has displayed some good form at Wimbledon, having to fight his way through the qualifiers just to make the main draw.
He then came up with a surprise of his own in the first round, getting the better of Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets. He is short of grass court match practice though, having only played in the Nottingham challenger where he was brought undone in the second round by Peter Polansky.
The pair have never faced off before this meeting and the winner will take on either Matteo Berrettini or Gilles Simon in the next round.
Prediction
Ebden is the red-hot favourite for a reason here. The way he used the net in not only his last match against Ebden, but previous ones on grass this year suggest he will ease into the third round.
Ebden in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from around 10:30pm (AEST) or at the completion of Alex De Minaur versus Pierre-Hugues Herbert and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.