6 January 2014 | Tennis Australia

Julien Benneteau quickly showed Australian Matthew Ebden there’s no substitute for top quality matches when the Frenchman comfortably accounted for the world No.65 at the Apia International Sydney on Monday.

Benneteau, a finalist here in 2012, had too much in the kit bag for the West Australian, winning 6-2 6-2.

Ebden largely built up his ranking over the back half of 2013 with a successful run on the Challenger Tour.

In the final four months of the year he won two tournaments and made the final of two others.

In the other completed first round men’s match on Monday Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin beat Spain’s Pablo Andujar 6-1 6-2.

Jarmila Gajdosova’s road back tot he top 100 continues, but not in Sydney, with the former world No.25 falling to American qualifier Lauren Davis 6-4 7-6(8) in their first-round match on Monday.