Bernard Tomic rallies to beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in the first rubber – Davis Cup WG Play-offs 2012
Australian teenager, Bernard Tomic, bounced back after going down in the first set to beat Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) in the first rubber of the Australia versus Germany World Group play-off tie on Friday.
Tomic gave Kangaroos a 1-0 lead with his win but German number one, Florian Mayer, defeated the former world number one, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, in straight sets 7-5 6-3 6-2 in the second rubber to equalise the tie score at
1-1.
Stebe drew the first blood, as he hit blows to the Australian player in the third and seventh game, capitalising on the double break to win 6-2.
In the second set, Stebe and Tomic held their serve in the first five games to take the score to 3-2 in favour of the latter. The Australian grabbed a breakthrough in the sixth and made the most of it to triumph 6-3.
Tomic won four of the opening five games of the third set to attain a 4-1 advantage. Stebe pulled one back in the sixth to reduce the deficit but that was not enough and he lost it 4-6.
The fourth set was the closest to all, as both players broke each other once to take the score to 6-6 and force a tie-breaker. Tomic grabbed a late mini-break and consolidated on it to win 7-6(4).
Australia’s team captain, Patrick Rafter, was happy with his player’s performance. Rafter said, in an interview, "It is the best retaliation that he could have done. I was really happy for him and that was what we wanted from him.
Hopefully he can go out there on day three and do the same sort of thing. In the past he would probably look at the conditions and what was happening throughout the match and [you would] think 'Hang on, is he going to hang tough here?. But he did and I am
very proud of him."
Tomic said that he is young and in a learning phase in his career. The current Australian number one stated, "I learn from my mistakes, it is good to learn. When you are young, you get a lot of things thrown at you and this is
all a learning curve.”
Tomic went on to say that he has learned a lot in the preceding few months and it would help him a lot one day when everything would come together.
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