My New Homeboy

Matt Ebden is my homeboy.

I didn't know anything about him until he beat Bernard Tomic at the December Showdown this year. Then I got the inkling that he could be a bit of all right, because Tomic is a bit good. And then I followed him through qualies in Brisbane, where, among others, he beat Marinko Matosevic, one of the higher-ranked Aussie players. And I thought he was pretty good.

And then he beat Jurgen Melzer today, ranked several hundred ranking places above him. And that was made of awesome.


He served stupidly awesomely. And to pull a Chris Eaton and win a match like this is pretty awesome. Please, Australian Open, card him in. Give him that last wildcard. If nothing else, let him into qualies. Because he's a total dude.


Speaking of Australian tennis, Stosur and Hewitt managed to win their tie in the Hopman Cup today, even though they let the doubles get away from them in a bad way. It's pretty hard for them to make the final now, and frankly, they don't deserve to. If Spain don't make it, I will be very surprised indeed - they are, as I write this, one rubber up over Romania, with Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez beating Sorana Cirstea in the women's singles.


Carsten Ball is also through to the second round of Brisbane, but Nick Lindahl, Bernard Tomic and Alicia Molik are all out. Molik got absolutely crushed by Kim Clijsters - Kimmie is looking like she is in absolutely dangerous form. Here's hoping she makes the women's final...


...because guess what! I will be there!


Due to this tennis trip, posting here may be a bit scattered over the next few days, but I promise I'll update with all my news when I get back. I'm doing two days at the Hopman Cup and then the men's semis and women's final in Brisbane, and it's going to be MADE OF AWESOME. Catch you on the flip side!




Today's Results

Hopman Cup (Perth)

Australia 2, USA 1

Samantha Stosur def. Melanie Oudin, 6-2 6-4
Lleyton Hewitt def. John Isner, 6-1 7-5
Oudin/Isner def. Stosur/Hewitt, 2-6 6-1 10-4 (match tie break)



Spain 3, Romania 0


Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-4 6-4
Tommy Robredo def. Victor Hanescu, 6-3 retired
Martinez Sanchez/Robredo def. Cirstea/Hanescu, walkover



Brisbane International (Brisbane)


Men's Draw


Gael Monfils def. Taylor Dent, 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (5-7) 6-2
Carsten Ball def. Mischa Zverev, 7-5 6-1
Matthew Ebden def. Jurgen Melzer, 7-5 6-1
Tomas Berdych def. Nick Lindahl, 6-2 6-4
Marcos Baghdatis def. Mardy Fish, 7-5 7-5
James Blake def. Sam Querrey, 4-6 6-3 6-4
Florent Serra def. Julian Reister, 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-5) 7-5
Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr def. Bernard Tomic, 6-4 6-4



Women's Draw


Kim Clijsters def. Alicia Molik, 6-0 6-3
Andrea Petkovic def. Vania King, 4-6 6-2 6-1
Melinda Czink def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 6-3 2-6 6-1
Ana Ivanovic def. Timea Bacsinszky, 6-2 2-6 6-4



Qatar ExxonMobil Open (Doha)

Roger Federer def. Christophe Rochus, 6-1 6-2
Andreas Seppi def. OScar Hernandez, 6-4 7-5
Nikolay Davydenko def. Mikhail Kukushkin, 6-2 6-0
Lukasz Kubot def. Karim Maamoun, 6-0 6-2
Steve Darcis def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-4 6-1
Younes El Aynaoui def. Ryler DeHeart, 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4)
Rafael Nadal def. Simone Bolelli, 6-3 6-3


Chennai Open (Chennai)

Robby Ginepri def. Robin Soderling, 6-4 7-5
Lukas Lacko def. Yen-hsun Lu, 6-4 6-3
Kevin Kim def. Daniel Brands, 6-2 6-2
Dudi Sela def. Denis Istomin, 6-1 6-2
Stanislas Wawrinka def. Rohan Bopanna, 6-1 6-4
Michael Russell def. Prakash Amritraj, 6-3 6-1
Stephane Robert def. Louk Sorenson, 6-2 6-1
Michael Berrer def. Santiago Ventura, 6-3 6-2
Robin Haase def. Tsung-hua Yang, 6-4 6-3
Somdev Devvarman def. Rainer Schuettler, 7-5 6-2
Marcel Granollers def. James Ward, 5-7 6-2 6-2


ASB Classic (Auckland)


Carla Suarez Navarro def. Edina Gallovits, 6-4 7-5
Francesca Schiavone def. Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, 6-2 6-3
Sania Mirza def. Stefanie Voegele, 5-7 6-1 7-5
Alize Cornet def. Marina Erakovic, 6-4 6-3
Elena Vesnina def. Alberta Brianti, 6-1 6-4
Virginie Razzano def. Monica Niculescu, 7-5 6-4
Ioana Raluca Olaru def. Elena Baltacha, 6-2 6-2
Shahar Peer def. Polona Hercog, 7-5 6-3
Maria Kirilenko def. Tatjana Malek, 6-2 6-3
Kaia Kanepi def. Na Li, 6-1 6-3