A packed Rod Laver Arena had
another glimpse on Wednesday night of the guy they hope will be their next
Grand Slam champion.
For the second straight match,
Bernard Tomic showed quality style -- if an unorthodox style -- to move into
his second consecutive third-round appearance at the Australian Open. Tomic
started out slowly against the power serve of Sam Querrey, but diligently
worked to put the American on the sidelines with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3 win.
Tomic’s been touted as a future star of the
tour from the junior ranks where he scored the 2008 Australian Open boys’ title
at 15 and then won the 2009 US Open boys’ singles title too.
At 19, Tomic’s game is maturing by leaps and
bounds every time he steps on a tennis court. Last year on the big boys'
circuit -- the ATP Tour -- Tomic muscled his way towards the top of the game.
He started the 2011 season ranked No. 208 and ended it at No. 42 to become the
youngest player in the year-end top 100.
On Monday, Tomic struggled to lay down a 4-6,
6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 first-round win against 22nd-seed Fernando Verdasco of
Spain. Not even Tomic would object to the assessment that he looked exhausted
after taking that victory on a sun-baked afternoon in Melbourne.
“I was happy to wi that first round,” Tomic
said. “Now to win the second and play well, and come back from another set
behind was really good.”
Querrey, 24, has made a career out of
frustrating opponents with his rocket serve and power, which skyrocketed him to
status as a top 20 player. But an injury-plagued 2011 has found Querrey
languishing at an uncomfortable No. 95 ranking.
Relying on his brawn turned out
not to be effective against Tomic, which prevented Querrey from making his
experience more valuable than Tomic’s exuberance. Tomic was poised, was willing
to vary his shot selection and was able to utilise an off-putting strategy of
mixing up the pace.
“I consider myself very smart and tactical, so
it’s a good thing,” Tomic said of his general match strategy. “I know where to
get balls to the opponents, like where I can create good shots for me.”
Although Querrey owned the first set with
seven aces, and by winning 13 of 16 first serve points and seven of eight
second serve points, the match slowly slipped from his control.
After exchanging early service breaks in the
second set, Tomic went ahead 4-2 when Querrey double faulted at ad-out. That
would be the last service break until Tomic scored the final service break of
the match -- also compliments of a Querrey double fault -- on a second break
point in the eighth game of the fourth set. At 5-3, Tomic served out the match
at love.
Next on Tomic’s radar will be
13th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, who took out Tobias Kamke of Germany
4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 3-6, 8-6. They’ve played three times before, always on hard
courts, and Dolgopolov’s always walked off court a winner. But in their two
meetings last year the matches went the three-set distance.
Dolgopolov, 23, came to notice
here last year when he sailed into the quarterfinals on his first trip to the
Australian Open. Like Tomic, Dolgopolov comes complete with a slightly off-kilter
game style that keeps opponents guessing as to what to expect next.
“He’s a very difficult player to
play,” Tomic said of Dolgopolov. “I think he doesn’t like my game. I don’t like
his.
“All I’ve got to do is smart
things when I play him. I think the last few times I’ve played him I didn’t do
the right thing after winning the first set.”
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