30 May 2012 | Tennis West

Wembley Downs Matthew Ebden today fell in the opening round of the French Open, going down in straight sets to No.24 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Ebden, who failed to win a set in four claycourt events leading into Roland Garros, was unfortunate to draw the experienced German, who won the ATP claycourt title in Munich just three weeks ago.

In an encouraging start, the Aussie broke serve for the only time in the match, only to have his own serve broken twice as Kohlschreiber went on to snatch the opening set.

The 24th seed quickly established a two-set lead but had to contend with an improved Ebden in the third stanza, who cleaned up his game while at the same time ratcheting up the pace on his groundstrokes.

In a high-quality display, the pair combined for 33 winners to 21 errors, served truly and showed off their all-court panache with several successful forays to the net.

Yet unfortunately for the Western Australian, Kohlschreiber had just a little too much polish, wrapping up a 6-4 6-4 7-6(4) win.