Bernard Tomic battles past Jurgen Zopp in the first round – If Stockholm Open 2011
Getting a wildcard entry into the main draw, 18-year-old Australian, Bernard Tomic, registered a hard-fought victory against the Estonian qualifier, Jurgen Zopp, in the opening round of the If Stockholm Open on Wednesday.
44th ranked Tomic took one hour and forty eight minutes of play to take down Zopp in an exciting three-setter, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-0, making a berth in the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World
Tour 250 event.
The Estonian qualifier was off to a competitive start in the contest and remained on even terms with his opponent in the opening two sets. Zopp suddenly lost all of his steam in the final set of the match and was completely blown
away by Tomic to end his voyage in Stockholm.
Tomic pocketed the opener in the tie breaker round after a stiff contest but dropped the next set to let Zopp back in business. The Aussie then regrouped in the third set and raced away to victory in the most authoritative manner
to book a place in the round of 16.
18-year-old Tomic banged 76 per cent of his serve on target and fired eight aces to pocket some un-fought points in the game. He clinched 58 out of 77 first serve points en route to victory, while the Estonian opponent lagged far
behind with 32 points to finish on the losing side.
No serve breaks were witnessed in the opening set, with both contestants toiling extremely hard to gain some early advantage. A regular game took the scores to 6-6, imposing a tie breaker in to play. Tomic got the better of his
opponent in the decider and took the first set at 7-6(5), to get one up in the contest.
After an exchange of serve breaks from both sides, Zopp was leading 5-4 when he stung a crucial break point conversion to seal the second set to his name at 6-4. His momentum was devastated in the final set, with Tomic breaking
the Estonian serve in every single serve game to rocket away to victory at 6-0.
A much harder task waits Tomic in the next round, as he will face the world number 10, Gael Monfils, for a place in the quarter-finals. Being the top seed in the If Stockholm Open, Monfils received a bye to get a direct access
to the second round of the tournament and will take off his Stockholm campaign on Thursday when he will play his first match against Tomic in the second round.
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