Ebden, fresh from an encouraging Australian Open adventure which saw him reach the final of the mixed doubles with Sam Stosur, enjoyed a big win on Thursday against his compatriot John Millman to move into the quarter-finals.

Ebden, the 33-year-old Perth stalwart who says he feels the coronavirus pandemic has actually refreshed his passion for tennis, took just an hour and 12 minutes to run out a 6-4 6-1 winner against Australian No.2 Millman.

Wildcard Ebden, who is ranked 277 places behind Millman, belied his current lowly status as Australia's 18th ranked man and No.316 in the world with a win that guaranteed he'll at least be back among the top-300 next week.

In Singapore's first ATP Tour event in 22 years, being played on indoor hard courts at the OCBC Arena, Ebden, who broke Millman's serve four times while not conceding a single game on his own delivery, reached his first tour level quarter-final since 2019.

"Happy with another good match here in Singapore," Ebden tweeted after the victory.

It was a reminder of why the veteran, who decided not to travel last year after the tour shutdown, was a top-40 player only three years ago.

Next up on Friday he faces Sydney's 21-year-old Popyrin, who made a huge breakthrough by beating David Goffin in the Australian Open and is now hoping to achieve an appearance in his first-ever ATP semi-final.

Currently ranked sixth in Australia, the world No.114 Popyrin can be encouraged by having won his only previous meeting with Ebden in Basel three years ago when he was still a teenager.

After they reached the quarter-finals of the men's doubles together in Melbourne, Ebden is enjoying another good run in Singapore with fellow Aussie John-Patrick Smith, as they face another last-eight clash with Americans Robert Galloway and Alex Lawson.

Australian Associated Press