Matt Ebden has fallen in straight sets to Frenchman Julien Benneteau at the Apia International in Sydney.
The Australian wildcard couldn’t match the tournament’s 6th seed, falling 6-2, 6-2 on Ken Rosewall Arena.
The 26-year-old has had preparations interrupted by an ankle problem which he had in December and aggravated during the first set against Benneteau.
“Going in to the match I was able to practice alright over the weekend but then I had a couple of little tweaks and it just started to feel really weak. I was getting a lot of pain off the heel and I just wasn’t able to push off and had no reaction with it,” he said.
“It’s pretty disappointing but I was able to play last week (in Brisbane) but maybe I just overdid it a bit soon.”
Ebden expects to be fine for the Australian Open.