Matt Ebden serve and volleys against Taro Daniel in the second set of the men’s Apis Canberra International final. (Photo by Rob Keating, http://photos.keatingmedia.com.au)
After recently winning the APIS Canberra International title on the ATP Challenger Tour, Australia’s Matt Ebden has now won the Dunlop Srixon World Challenge event played in Toyota, Japan. The title is part of the ATP Challenger Tour and provides Ebden with 80 rankings points, along with $7,200 US in prize money.
More importantly, Ebden has locked in a main draw spot at the 2018 Australian Open tennis.
In his fourth tournament in a row and second back-to-back in Japan, Ebden defeated the 7th seeded Calvin Hemery, who had beaten Ebden the week before in Kobe where Hemery was runner-up to fellow Frenchman Stephane Robert.
Going back to the Traralgon tournament in late October, Ebden has reached the semi, won Canberra, lost the second round in Kobe and now won in Toyota to take a valuable 195 rankings points from the past four back-to-back tournaments. In the rankings released on 20 November, Ebden has now climbed to 80, and he is closing in on his career high ranking of 61 achieved on 1 October 2012.
Hemery was looking to win the title after winning each of his matches against an Australian player, not sure if that has happened in recent times. Ebden stood in the way of that achievement. Hemery defeated Alex Bolt, Bradley Mousley, Andrew Whittington and John Millman before losing 7-6(3), 6-3 to Ebden.
In the doubles event, Australia’s Max Purcell teamed up with fellow Australian, Andrew Whittington to claim the title. They defeated Ruben Gonzales and Christopher Rungkat in the final 6-3, 2-6, 10-8. Whittington reached the doubles semifinals at the 2017 Australian Open when he teamed up with Marc Polmans.
Omar Jasika had also competed in the Toyota tournament, losing to Bradley Mousley in the opening round and Max Purcell reached the third round where he lost to John Millman.
Ebden is not taking a rest, he next plays the Ea Hua Hin Open Challenger in Thailand. It has 110 points available to the winner along with $21,600 in prize money. As the top seed, Ebden is joined in the main draw by other Australians including Dayne Kelly, Akira Santillan, Andrew Whittington, Alex Bolt, Omar Jasika, Maverick Banes, Bradley Mousley, John Millman and Alex Purcell.
Australia’s former world no. 39 ranked player, Marinko Matosevic is looking to join the main draw from qualifying, he plays Thailand’s Pol Wattannakul in a match where the winner claims a main draw spot.
