Bernard Tomic after a poor 2017 season has found himself needing to play on the ATP Challenger Tour to keep his tennis career alive. Tomic is currently competing in the Bratislava Challenger in Slovakia which has 106,000 Euros in prize money, along with 110 ranking points for the tournament winner.
Tomic defeated Ricardas Berankis 7-6(3), 6-2 in the opening round. Tomic is currently ranked at 144 after starting 2017 at 26.
Sara Tomic from Australia hits a forehand during her opening round match against Julia Glushko from Israel at the Apis Canberra International. (Photo by Rob Keating, http://photos.keatingmedia.com.au)
Meanwhile here in Australia, Sara Tomic is competing in the Bendigo ITF Futures event. After a first-round loss in the Canberra International event, Sara upset the second seed Asia Muhammad in the opening round of the Bendigo event, 6-3, 7-6(2).
Earlier in the tournament Canberra’s Lisa Mays again reached the second round of qualifying before losing to Renee McBryde in the third round.
Canberra’s Lisa Mays plays a backhand in her round 2 qualification match against Japan’s Ramu Ueda. (Photo by Rob Keating)
Kimberly Birrell in her doubles match at the Canberra International with Alize Lim against Isabelle Wallace and Genevieve Lorbergs where they lost 6-3, 6-4.
In other opening-round matches at Bendigo we saw Kimberly Birrell defeat Sweden’s Ellen Allgurin 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. France’s Alize Lim defeated Olivia Tjandramulia 7-6, 7-5, Zoe Hives defeated fellow Australian Maddison Inglis 6-2, 6-3. Tammi Patterson defeated Belinda Woolcock 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 and Astra Sharma defeated Storm Sanders 7-6, 6-3. Sharma and Sanders faced off again in the doubles with Sharma partnering Woolcock to defeat Sanders and Gabriella Da Silva Fick 6-4, 6-4.
Today in Bendigo Arina Rodionova again faces Alison Bai. It was Canberra’s Bai that knocked Rodionova out of the Canberra International the week before when they met in the second round. Apis Canberra International champion Olivia Rogowska plays Ramu Ueda who came through qualifying.
Ivana Popovic will get her first taste of main draw action against USA’s Jennifer Elie. Popovic made it through the qualifying.
In what shapes up as a big opening round match, last week’s semifinalists from Canberra, Julia Glushko and Destanee Aiava face each other.
Julia Glushko hits a forehand in her match against Lizette Cabrera at the Canberra International. Glushko will be a tough opponent for Destanee Aiava in the opening round in Bendigo. (Photo by Rob Keating, http://photos.keatingmedia.com.au)
To access the draws and order of play for Bendigo visit the tennis.com.au website.
