Australians Marinko Matosevic and Matt Ebden have been awarded wildcards into the main draw of next week’s Sydney International.
The top-70 pair will join an impressive line-up at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre, headlined by world No.5 Juan Martin del Potro, powerful Pole Jerzy Janowicz and defending champion and compatriot Bernard Tomic.
Matosevic is enjoying a great run at the Brisbane International, having defeated two higher-ranked opponents en route to a quarter-final against Roger Federer.
“I’ve trained hard in my off-season and it’s paying off,” Matosevic said.
The Victorian is Australia’s third-highest ranked player, finishing 2013 at No.62 in the world after a season highlighted by a semi-final appearance at the ATP event in Memphis and quarter-finals at Washington and the Montreal Masters.
Ebden sits not far behind Matosevic in the rankings at No.68 and, like his countryman, enjoyed an encouraging week in Brisbane to reach the second round.
“It was good to get the first tournament of the year underway in Brisbane, but I want to be playing my best tennis in Sydney and use it as great preparation for the Australian Open the week after,” Ebden said.
The Western Australian was ranked 135th as recently as September before enjoying a purple patch on the Challenger circuit.
In his eight events since the US Open, Ebden won three, reached the finals at two more and compiled a win-loss record of 29-5, helping to slash his ranking by half.