Bernard Tomic ousts Sam Groth at Burnie International
Australian tennis player, Bernard Tomic, has been on the rise for several years now, and seems to be determined to prove himself as a serious player.
He defeated compatriot, Sam Groth, in a straight-sets match yesterday, winning his first round match at the Burnie International. This win means that Tomic is still in the running to win the Burnie title once again.
The 18 year old has been hailed by many critics as a prodigy, and is expected to break into the Top 100 within this year.
He began his 2011 run at the Brisbane International, although he is not highly ranked, he was awarded a wild card into the tournament. Despite this, he lost to German Florian Mayer in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
Tomic’s next tournament was the Medibank International, where he advanced through the qualifying rounds by winning three straight matches. His opponents were all top 100 players. At the main event, Tomic lost to Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov in three sets
6-7(3), 6-1, 6-2 in the first set.
However, his performance was good enough for Australian Open organizers to grant him a wild card into the tournament.
At Melbourne Park, Tomic defeated Jeremy Chardy and thirty-first seed Feliciano Lopez in straight-sets matches, scoring two straight wins for the first time in his Grand Slam career. Tomic’s impressive run at the Australian Open ended against World Number
1 Rafael Nadal.
In this battle, too, Tomic put up an impressive fight and even led the second set 4-0 before being defeated 6-2, 7-5, 6-3.
Tomic defeated Groth last night in straight sets, despite Groth’s serving advantage. He says, “Sam is a great player, serves really well and I am just happy the way I got through it, especially breaking his serve early in the match. He picked up his serve
in the second set and I wasn't even getting close to breaking, and I was just lucky in the tiebreak that I got those early few points. He wasn't serving that great in the first set but I was happy that I was serving very consistently throughout the match.
I think that was what got me up in the first set".
Bernard Tomic will be defending his 2010 title, which he won after a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of fellow Australian tennis player Greg Jones. He has already stated that he doesn’t feel too stressed about the upcoming match, and that he was confident of a victory.
In a recent interview, the Gold Coast player said, “Of course there is pressure but once you are on that court, my job is just to play and hopefully win and defend my title here”.
The 18 year old will be competing against Matthew Ebden in the next round. The young pro is bound to be more confident of his skills after the Australian Open, where he was the best-performing Australian male.
This is the first time he has made it to the third round of a Major, and if his performance remains consistent, breaking into the Top 100 should not be a problem.
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