Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden earned a shot at world number one Rafael Nadal thanks to his 7-5, 6-3 win over India's Somdev Devvarman at Queen's, while four-time champion Andy Roddick defeated Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 on Tuesday. Ebden, who was born in South Africa, has spent most of his short career playing on the unglamorous Futures Tour and is currently ranked 168th in the world.
Nadal arrived in London late on Monday just 24 hours after his final victory over Roger Federer to begin preparations for the defence of his Wimbledon title. And his first opponent will be the unheralded Ebden, who secured an impressive victory over Devvarman even though the Indian is 101 places above his opponent in the ATP rankings.
Perth-based Ebden has been in good form of late, reaching the latter stages at Nottingham and Cremona, and he edged a tight first set before pressing home his advantage with a break late in the second set to clinch the win. Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro enjoyed a winning return to grass as the Argentine beat Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.
British number one Andy Murray learned that he will play Xavier Malisse in the second round after the Belgian's 6-4, 6-4 win over Germany's Matthias Bachinger. Japan's Go Soeda suffered a miserable Queen's debut as the world number 130 was beaten 6-1, 6-3 by Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
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