Forgotten man Tomic earns first Tour win since 2021
MALLORCA :Australia's forgotten bad boy Bernard Tomic earned his first ATP main draw victory since 2021 on Tuesday as he hit back from a set down to beat Rinky Hijikata at the Mallorca Open.
The 32-year-old, once ranked 17th in the world but now languishing down at 248, battled to a 3-6 7-5 6-2 to set up a clash against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
Tomic's questionable attitude has attracted plenty of criticism throughout his career, often bragging about his party lifestyle and earnings and having numerous run-ins with authority over his penchant for speeding in sports cars.
But he appears to be giving tennis one last throw of the dice and skipped trying to qualify for Wimbledon in preference of trying to earn some ranking points by qualifying in Mallorca and boosting his hopes of a top-100 return.
Qualifying wins in Mallorca against Dutchman Jasper De Jong and Aleksandar Kovacevic, both ranked in the top 100, earned him his chance and he took it against wildcard Hijikata.
It was his first main draw win since beating Yuichi Sugita in the opening round of the 2021 Australian Open.
Bautista Agut, 37, will provide a stern test of Tomic's desire after the Spaniard continued his recent resurgence with a 5-7 6-3 6-2 defeat of Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Top seed Ben Shelton begins his Mallorca quest on Wednesday against fellow American Learner Tien.
The 22-year-old Shelton, ranked 10 in the world, warmed up on Tuesday with a knock-about against Mallorca's former NBA star Rudy Fernandez before shooting some hoops.
"It was fun, Rudy is a really nice guy, I'd never met him before," Shelton said of the former Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets player. "He's a better tennis player than I was expecting."
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