Double joy at Wimbledon for doubles ace Ebden

Doubles specialist Matthew Ebden has doubled up at Wimbledon, winning matches in both the men’s and the mixed doubles.

While the nation’s interest in the men’s and women’s singles has expired, Australians remain in all three doubles events with Ebden at the heart of the challenge.

Last year he and fellow Aussie Max Purcell won a shock men’s doubles title, saving eight match points in the competition before defeating the No.1 seeds in the final.

This year Purcell is paired with Jordan Thompson and Ebden with India’s Rohan Bopanna.

In the morning the sixth-seeded duo took on British pair Jacob Fearnley and Johannus Monday winning 7-5 6-3 in 68 minutes.

That booked Ebden and Bopanna a third round tie against David Pel (Netherlands) and Reese Stadler (US).

In the afternoon Ebden returned to No.3 Court with mixed doubles partner Ellen Perez, to face Kevin Krawietz and Zhaoxuan Yang.

This time Ebden was made to work harder, the fifth-seeded Australian pair eventually reached the quarter-finals with a 6-7 (10-12), 6-4, 7-6 (11-9) victory in 155 minutes.

They now face British wildcard duo Jonny O’Mara and Olivia Nicholls who put out the fourth seeds, Wesley Koolhof and Leylah Fernandez.

Back in the men’s, in the day’s only Australian defeat, Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler went out to top seeds Neal Skupski and Koolhof 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

The British-Dutch duo now play Purcell and Thompson.

One other Australian is in the men’s doubles. John Peers and his Brazilian partner Marcelo Melo beat French pair Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia 6-3 6-2 in an hour’s play.

In the women’s doubles third-seeded Storm Hunter and her Belgian partner Elise Mertens discovered the identity of their third round opponents when 15th seeds Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) and Elena-Gabriela-Ruse (Romania) beat Czech pair Marketa Vondrousova and Miriam Kolodziejova.