S’HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands, June 18 AAP/AP – Australia’s Matt Ebden has fallen to third-seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the second-round of the Topshelf Open in The Netherlands, a grasscourt tune-up ahead of Wimbledon.

Ebden looked certain to advance to the quarter-finals after building a 4-0 lead in the opening set and 4-1 in the second, but eventually went down 7-5 7-6 (1).

The 26-year-old nailed six aces, only to have them undone with eight double faults in the one hour, 45 minute match.

Ebden, one of five Australians in the men’s main draw at Wimbledon next week, snapped a seven-game losing streak with his first-round victory over Adrian Mannarino – his first at an ATP-level event since Miami in March.

Meanwhile second-seeded Fernando Verdasco beat wild-card entry Jesse Huta Galung 7-5 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

Verdasco earned the first break of his match in the 12th game of the first set when Huta Galung knocked an easy backhand out, following by another in the fourth game of the second with a forehand passing shot.

The Spaniard will next play Jurgen Melzer after the Austrian beat Lukas Lacko 5-7 6-3 6-3.

Benjamin Becker of Germany and Joao Sousa of Portugal also advanced, along with seventh-seeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

Three players retired from matches in the women’s draw, with French Open finalist and top-seeded Simona Halep pulling out due a sore right shoulder when she was leading 5-7 3-2 against Annika Beck of Germany.

Fourth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain retired when China’s Zheng Jie was leading 7-5 0-1, and Vania King left the court in the third set against fellow American Coco Vandeweghe, who was leading 6-7 (6) 6-0 2-1.

In other women’s matches, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina had a 7-6 (4) 6-4 upset win over No.6-seeded Kirsten Flipkens and eighth-seeded Klara Koukalova defeated Mona Barthel of Germany 6-2 7-6 (6).