Bernard Tomic loses to Dmitry Tursunov in the first round – Rakuten Japan Open 2012
Bernard Tomic’s bad patch continued, as he got upset at the hands of Russia’s world number 117, Dmitry Tursunov, in straight sets 4-6, 5-7 in the opening round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. This ATP World Tour
500 hard court event is being held in Tokyo.
Tomic, who first came to the scene of tennis world when he reached the quarter-finals of last year’s Wimbledon Championships, was ranked 27th in June but he dropped out of top 50 after that. The Australian got back among
best 40 players at the start of this week but this early loss can throw him out once again.
In the first set of this match, Tomic and Tursunov went on equal terms till 2-2 but then the Russian hit a blow to the Australian in the fifth and held his next serve to attain a 4-2 lead. Tursunov did not allow Tomic to make a
comeback, holding his entire serves and closing it 6-4.
The Russian pounded four aces but also made three double faults in the opener. He had a low first serve percentage of 58 but managed to convert 16 of the 18 of them into points. The Moscow, Russia resident also fared pretty well
on the second returns, as he secured nine of the 14 points on them.
Tursunov and Tomic served impressively again in the second set, holding all of them in the first 10 games and going neck to neck till 5-5. The Russian contender snatched a breakthrough in the 11th and made the most of
it to triumph 7-5.
The 29-year-old grabbed majority of the points on his first serves once more, winning 14 of the 15 of them including four aces. The 6ft 1in tall did not face any break point and converted one of the three he received in the second
set.
It took Tursunov one hour and 22 minutes to undo his opponent in an evenly contested match.
The Russian will face Japanese number three, Tatsuma Ito, in the second round. Ito stunned Spain’s Nicolas Almagro in straight sets 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in the opener.
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