Bernard Tomic produces come from behind heroics to win first ATP match since 2021

News.com.au

5 hours ago

Aussie tennis bad boy Bernard Tomic has ended his four-year wait for an ATP Tour victory with a resilient comeback win over fellow Australian Rinky Hijikata in Spain overnight.
Despite not qualifying for Wimbledon, the 32-year-old headed straight for the Mallorca Championships in hopes of regaining his old form.
Victory looked bleak for Tomic as he stared down the barrel of defeat down 3-5 in the second set on the grass courts.
But with one game away from loss the resurgent veteran battled back to take the match 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.
The win was his first top level victory on the main tour in over four years, since the 2021 Australian Open (by retirement), and first by winning match point since mid-2019.
In a strong performance, Tomic finished with nine aces, converting four from five break points and for one run in the match won 12 consecutive points.
The win pushes him from world No. 243 to the edge of the top 200 in a resurgent push to revive his career.
The shift has been a change from the troubled times in the limelight that has made up much of Tomic's career on tour.
He last won an ATP tournament in 2018 when he claimed the Chengdu Open in China before his decline.
The Aussie was once of the country's brightest prospects but his career was derailed by a party lifestyle, various bust-ups with officials, run-ins with spectators and allegations of tanking games.
Despite no charges being laid in the end, the most serious came in 2022 with investigations into alleged match fixing.
But all that seems well behind Tomic as the star looks for a personal and professional revival three years later.
Having just missed qualifying for the grass court tournament in London, Tomic found form in Spain early after pulling off upset wins over World No. 93 Jesper De Jong and No. 77 Aleksandar Kovacevic just to make the main draw.
Before then the Gold Coaster had not beaten a rival inside the top 100 for more than two years.
His defeat now of Hijikata — who will be part of the main draw at Wimbledon — in the Round of 32 puts him in the fold to make a push for the final grand slam of the year, the US Open in August.
Tomic is now the last Aussie in the tournament, while James Duckworth has also advanced to the Round of 16 in the Eastbourne Open after defeating Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1.
Tomic will next play No. 7 seed on home turf, Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut early tomorrow morning.