Tomic tumbles in Tokyo
Bernard Tomic fell in the second round of the Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo on Wednesday to Diego Schwartzman.
Tokyo, Japan, 4 October 2017 | AAP
Bernard Tomic’s revival has been short-lived, with the Australian exiting the Japan Open in less than an hour.
Two days after winning his first match in more than three months, Tomic suffered a 6-3 6-1 loss to Argentine Diego Schwartzman.
Wednesday’s match was all over in 56 minutes, with Tomic’s hopes of a desperately needed rankings boost taking another hit.
Projected to end the week at 143rd in the standings, the one-time world No.17 and Wimbledon quarterfinalist is fast running out of time – and tournaments – to return to the top 100 and guarantee himself an Australian Open start.
Schwartzman was a surprise quarterfinalist at last month’s US Open but looked a good match-up for Tomic on the Tokyo hard courts.
But it was apparent from the outset that Tomic would have his work cut out as the South American baseliner doggedly ran down ball after ball.
After losing the first set, Tomic dropped serve twice more to bow out.
Frenchman Adrian Mannarino beat Czech Jiri Vesely 6-3 6-2 to also move into the quarterfinals.
Fresh off his weekend title success in Shenzhen, Belgian fourth seed David Goffin won his opener 7-5 6-1 against Spaniard Feliciano Lopez – and will next face another Aussie, Matt Ebden – while Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine reached the second round with a 6-1 6-2 win over Russian Daniil Medvedev.