Tomic into Istanbul quarters
For the first time in five years, Bernard Tomic has managed to score consecutive match wins on clay to set up a quarterfinal at the Istanbul Open against No.1 seed Milos Raonic.
Istanbul, İstanbul, Turkey, 4 May 2017 | AAP
Bernard Tomic’s reward for his first back-to-back ATP tour wins on clay since 2012 is a meeting with world No.6 Milos Raonic at the Istanbul Open.
Sixth-seed Tomic reached his first ATP event quarterfinal since last September with a 7-5 6-3 second-round win over Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva.
The Australian battled back after being broken midway through the first set by Dutra Silva, ranked 69th in the world.
He regained composure to punish his opponent’s errors, breaking back twice to take opening set before gaining the advantage with a single break point at 3-2 to win the second.
“He was playing very good in the first set and I was down one break so I was trying to make every ball,” said world No.40 Tomic.
“I got a chance there to get a break back and from there I started to play very, very aggressive.”
The last time Tomic won consecutive clay court matches on tour was at the Munich Open in 2012 where he made the quarterfinals.
While reaching the third round of the Australian Open, he had only progressed last the first round of an ATP tournament once this year – last week at the Barcelona Open before pulling out with injury against Andy Murray.
His last quarterfinal appearance was the Shenzhen Open in September.
Canadian Raonic came back from losing a first-set tiebreaker against in-form Briton Aljaz Bedene to win 6-7(5) 6-3 7-6(3) in the second round.
Top-seed Raonic, who was playing for only the second time since February due to injury, prevailed in just over two and a half hours.