Tomic falls as clay frailties rear head
THE clock is ticking on Bernard Tomic’s French Open preparations after the Gold Coaster squandered a strong start to lose in the first round of the Italian Open.
Tomic, who disappointed in Madrid last week after a quarter-final showing on clay in Istanbul, went down to Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 6-7 (10-8), 6-1, 6-4.
After winning a tight first set and having break opportunities on Struff’s serve in the first two games of the second set things began to unravel for the world No.40. Struff rattled off five straight games to take the set and momentum into the decider.
Things were evenly poised until the ninth game when Struff broke Tomic before serving out the match.
Tomic has typically struggled on clay and at best now can enter a few minor tournaments before the start of the French Open at the end of the month.
The news wasn’t much better for fellow Gold Coast star Samantha Stosur, who was sent packing in the opening round of the Rome WTA tournament by Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Big-hitting Pavlyuchenkova defeated Stosur 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 6-1 in a seesawing battle that lasted over 2½ hours.
The loss is a blow to former US Open champion Stosur, who would have been hoping for more court time in the lead-up to the French Open.
At the end of the second set, Stosur appeared to have the momentum after reeling off the last three points of the tiebreak with some big forehand winners.
Pavyluchenkova looked despondent at the end of the set but she held serve early, then immediately breaking Stosur with a fine display of power-hitting before rolling through the final set.
Aussie men’s star Nick Kyrgios will have to contend with a rough draw in Rome when his campaign gets underway.
Kyrgios was due to play accomplished clay courter Roberto Bautista Agut in a first round encounter, a win likely to see him up against another Spanish red dirt specialist, Pablo Carreno Busta.
Carreno Busta took out the Estoril Open in Portgual earlier this month.
If successful, world No.2 Novak Djokovic looms next for world No.18 Kyrgios.
It was smooth sailing for most of the seeded men in the opening matches in Rome, with Belgian ninth seed David Goffin among those through, over Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4.