Bernard Tomic
Jerzy Janowicz
After starting the year ranked at no. 26, Bernard Tomic had dropped to 162 at the start of October, and now sits at 144. This week Tomic headed to Bratislava, Slovakia to compete in the ATP Challenger Tour event as he looks to rebuild his career.
After a first-round win against Ricardas Berankis 7-6(3), 6-2, Tomic found himself across the net from Jerzy Janowicz who was ranked at no. 14 in August 2013 but also has struggled over recent times. His ranking was 280 to start the year but he has worked it down to 125. A good result this week would see him closing in on a top 100 ranking.
The match was a tight affair with neither playing dropping serve throughout. Janowicz did not offer a single break point, while Tomic had to fight off three break points throughout the match. When it came to the tie-breakers, Tomic was outplayed. When fighting to keep the match alive he did take the first two points of the breaker, only to concede the match by dropping the next seven points.
It will be interesting to see how Tomic can find his way into the 2018 Australian Open.
Over in Kobe Matt Ebden won his opening round match against Japan’s Hiroki Moriya 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Ebden had gone straight over to Japan after winning the Apis Canberra International event. In Canberra, he defeated Japan’s, Taro Daniel. Daniel fell in his opening round match in Kobe.
Matt Ebden hits a backhand during the third set in the men’s semifinal in the Apis Canberra International. He was not able to continue his run in Kobe beyond the second round. (Photo by Rob Keating)
On Thursday Ebden’s run came to an end when he was defeated by France’s Calvin Hemery 6-4, 6-3. Hemery is ranked at 190 on the ATP world tour rankings. Ebden was constantly fighting off break points, with Hemery converting 3 of 10 to help him win the match. Ebden only managed to get one break point and did not convert on that.
It was better news for Australia’s Alex Bolt and Akira Santillan. They both advanced to the third round. Bolt won 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 over Zhang Ze from China and Santillan defeated Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 7-6(5).
Alex Bolt in his round one match against Jacob Grills at the Apis Canberra International. Bolt is looking to again reach the semis, this time in Kobe. (Photo by Rob Keating)
Other Australians playing in Kobe include John Millman who plays Calvin Hemery in the third round. Oman Jasika lost his first round match to Jason Jung from Taipei 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Marinko Matosevic who reached the main drawer from qualifying lost his opening round match to Stephane Robert from France 6-3, 6-1.
Bolt and Santillan meet in the quarterfinals, so at least one Australian will be in the semifinals at Kobe.
In the Inernationaux do Vendee in France, Australia’s Alex de Minaur went out in the opening round, losing 6-3, 6-2 to Yannick Maden from Germany.
John-Patrick Smith is playing in the ATP Challenger Tour event in Knoxville, USA and defeated USA’s top seed Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 7-6(5) to move into the second round where he meets Great Britain’s, Edward Corrie.
Digging deeper into the back blocks of world tennis we have Blake Ellis, Moerani Bouzige, Alexander Crnokrak and Michael Look competing in the Vietnam F1 Futures tournament. Ellis has advanced to the third round.
Blake Ellis hitting a forehand against Evan King in a second-round match on centre court at the Apis Canberra International. He has reached the third round in Vietnam. (Photo by Rob Keating)
