Roger Federer crushes local hopes; Bernard Tomic falls in third round – Australian Open 2013
All local hopes came crashing down at the coveted Melbourne Park when the world number two, Roger Federer, dismantled the home favourite, Bernard Tomic, in the third round battle of Australian Open. The Saturday’s encounter witnessed
a thrilling contest between the 20-year-old Aussie and the Swiss veteran, lasting nearly two hours. After some gruelling tennis in the opening two sets, Federer eventually eased out through the third and settled the final score line at 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-1, to
reach the pre-quarter-final rounds of the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne.
Tomic has been very optimistic to take on Federer prior to the match and cited to hunt down the reigning world number two. He was defeated by Federer in the 2012 edition of the Australian Open as well but the 43rd ranked
home favourite posted a far better performance this time round. He was off to a poor start but gained control of his nerves very soon. It was anyone’s game in the second set of the match, which had to end in a tie-breaker round. However, he was completely
devastated by the might of the Swiss Maestro in the third set, suffering a breadstick to finish his voyage at the season-opening Grand Slam event.
Federer registered his first breakthrough in the very first game of the match, attaining a 2-0 lead up front. He faced reasonable resistance from Tomic in the remaining games of the set but kept holding his serve all the way to
6-4.
Intense competition was seen in the following set, with both contestants failing to break their opponent’s serve. Federer frittered away six vital break points and the score eventually got deadlocked at 6-6, bringing a tie-breaker
round into play. Tomic was leading 4-1 at one stage in the tie-breaker round but the second seed Swiss came from behind to finish off the set at 7-6(5) in his favour.
Once getting into his winning groove, Federer never looked back at Tomic in the third set. He nailed two out of six breaks of serve and finished off the match with a breadstick, 6-1.
Federer will take on the Canadian tennis prodigy, Milos Raonic, in the fourth round to fight for a place berth in the quarter-final draw of the Australian Open next week.
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