Australian and third-seeded Matthew Ebden has beaten top seeded American Denis Kudla in straight sets 7-5 6-3 to reach the Final of the Tiburon Challenger event. He now faces unseeded Canadian Peter Polansky in the title decider.
After Ebden broke to win the opener by 7 games to 5, he rode the wave of momentum and got another break to quickly lead 2 love in the second set. Kudla struggled with inconsistency on serve and never quite recovered.
The tournament in Tiburon caps a successful month of tennis for Ebden on the Challenger Tour. The Australian made the Semi-finals in Kaohsiung (Taiwan), losing to Top 100 player Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4 6-4.
A week later, Ebden made the Final in Napu (California, USA), eventually falling short against American Donald Young 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Just last week, wildcard Jarmere Jenkins upset Ebden in the Quarter-finals of the Sacramento Challenger event, beating the Australia 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4.