Big-serving Australian Carsten Ball will seek the advice of countryman and Davis Cup teammate Peter Luczak as he prepares for a showdown with men’s top seed Andy Roddick.
Ball, ranked 134, aced his way into the second round with a 7-5 6-1 win over world No.78 Mischa Zverev of Germany.
“It’s always good to win a match at this level, these are the best players in the world so it’s good to get up here and get some confidence,” said Ball following the win.
It was an important win for Ball who spent some time on the sidelines following the US Open with injury and a bout of swine flu.
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Last year Ball enjoyed his best season to date, playing an important role in Australia’s Davis Cup side and making the final in Los Angeles as a qualifier.
More recently Ball has been working on his game as he strives to take it to the next level and break into the top 100.
“I’ve been working on my serve a lot and my return games, but I think I did a lot mentally too, I’ve been doing a lot better with that and staying positive and keep going after my shots.”
Ball finished the match with four aces to book his second-round meeting with Roddick who showed no sentimentality in knocking Australian Luczak out in straight sets on Monday night.
“I’ll get a few words of wisdom from Looch and then see how it goes. I think Looch and I have pretty different game styles but I’ll definitely have to hear what he has to say and get a few tips.
Ball said he will use the match as a barometer for his progress.
“It’s an opportunity to go out there and play the best I can and then see what happens. Win or lose you’re out there competing and trying to win obviously.
“If I lose it’s not like I’m not going to be disappointed, I’m going to stay and try see what I did wrong and see what I can try and do better.”
Ball will be joined in the second round by qualifier Matt Ebden, who upset world No.28 and sixth seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 7-5 6-1 in his ATP debut.
Ebden has been on a roll this summer, winning three Futures events and making the final of another.
“All those Futures tournaments, which were played late last year, the goal in all of those was to do well enough to play these tournaments in January,” explained Ebden.
“I just wanted to put myself in the position to get a start in these [tournaments] and see if I can, you know, break through. I just wanted to test myself at the next level.”
And a test is exactly what the West Australian will get when he takes on Brisbane International 2009 semifinalist Richard Gasquet in the second round.
While Ebden has nothing to lose going into the match, the 22 year old can look forward to pitting his game against the sublime skills of one of the game’s best technicians.
“I think his reputation speaks for itself, he’s been top 10, he’s been up there in the slams, y’know, always playing well, it’s going to be a very very tough match again.
“The guy I played today [Melzer] was also seeded, so hopefully I can stick in there and play well.”
Earlier today Marcos Baghdatis ended American Mardy Fish’s tournament in straight sets, 7-5 7-5. Baghdatis will face Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych who sent Australian qualifier Nick Lindahl home in straight sets, 6-2 6-4.
While James Blake needed three sets to end the hopes of countryman, friend and fifth seed Sam Querrey, 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Blake was on the back foot early but took control in the second set to progress to the second round where he will meet Frenchman Marc Gicquel who disposed of Germany’s Philipp Petzschner in the first round.
Belgian top seed Kim Clijsters ousted Australia’s Alicia Molik in straight sets, 6-0 6-3, while Bernard Tomic was also on the wrong side of the scoreline, he crashed out in straight sets to qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr, 6-4 6-4.