Matthew Ebden upsets sixth seed to advance to quarterfinals.
Newport, RI, USA, 20 July 2017 | tennis.com.au
The 29-year-old advanced with a 6-1 7-6(2) victory over Slovakian sixth seed Lukas Lacko in the American grass court event.
Ebden, who has now won four consecutive matches to come through qualifying, lost only nine points in 10 service games and did not face a break point in the 62-minute win.
The Perth-based talent, who reached a career-high ranking of No.61 in 2012, is on the comeback from an injury-interrupted 2016 season. His ranking fell to No.699 in January, which he has since improved to No.249.
His performance this week is projected to see his ranking sky-rocket back into the world’s top 200.
He next faces world No.185-ranked Tobias Kamke in the quarterfinals. The 31-year-old German scored an upset 7-6(5) 7-5 win over third-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the second round.
The Australian won his only previous meeting with Kamke, at the 2014 US Open, in straight sets. Victory in Newport would qualify Ebden for his first semifinal at ATP World Tour level.
The run of fellow Australian qualifier Sam Groth is over, with top-seeded American John Isner scoring a 6-2 6-4 second round win. Isner fired 13 aces in the 61-minute match.
Akira Santillan is also out, beaten by American Bjorn Fratangelo 7-6(3) 3-6 6-1.
Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith advanced to the doubles quarterfinals with a nail-biting 4-6 6-4 22-20 win over Taiwan pair Cheng-Peng Hsieh and Hsien-Yin Peng.