Tomic alive in French Open push
to work a little bit harder on his physical fitness.
“He doesn’t seem to play any long matches.
“I’d like to see them working harder on their game . . . it might bring better results.”
Kyrgios has a 5-2 career record in matches that go to five sets, winning four of six best-of-three-set matches on tour this season that have gone to a decisive third set.
He has struggled with back, hip and knee issues over the past two years.
Should the Canberran take his place at Roland Garros, he will not be among the favourites, given his best result is a third-round appearance in 2015 and ’16. BERNARD Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis are safely through to the second round of French Open qualifying in Paris.
After a dismal 2017 and fleeting appearance on reality TV, Tomic continued his resurgence with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 victory over Darian King, of Barbados.
The win was his fifth from his past six matches on clay and left the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist two victories from a place in the Roland Garros main draw.
Kokkinakis battled back to defeat French teenager Jaimee Floyd Angele 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in his first competitive outing since injuring his knee in an on-court fall at last month’s Madrid Masters.
Fellow Australian Akira Santillan also won his firstround qualifier, brushing aside Japan’s Go Soeda 6-2, 6-2, but Marc Polmans, Alex Bolt and Jason Kubler all bowed out.
Polmans succumbed 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 to Belarusian Uladzimir Ignatik, Bolt lost 6-2, 6-4 to German Tobias Kamke and Kubler went down 6-2, 7-5 to Portugal’s Goncalo Oliveira.
Tomic and Kokkinakis will continue their bids to join Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, Matt Ebden, Jordan Thompson and 19-year-old wildcard Alex de Minaur in the 128-man Open main draw tonight night.
Australians Olivia Rogowska, Arina Rodionova, Lizette Cabrera and Priscilla Hon all played their women’s first-round qualifying games overnight.