Tomic name looks unlikely for Open
THE hopes of a Tomic contesting next month’s Australian Open have taken a hit with Sara Tomic a first-round casualty at the wildcard playoff tournament in Melbourne.
Troubled older brother Bernard elected not to contest the wildcard playoff at Melbourne Park and will instead enter qualifying in early January.
His sister, world No.466 Sara, faced a tough battle yesterday, drawing top seeded Victorian Arina Rodionova and crashed out in a tight contest 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.
The talented Queensland teenager also fell in the first round of the women’s doubles on Monday.
Tomic was cautioned for taking too much time between points late in the second set.
The censure failed to stop the 19-year-old charging back after trailing 2-5 but, after breaking serve for 4-5, she lost her own delivery – and the match.
Ranked world No.120, Rodionova was relieved to advance.
“I got the job done,” the 27year-old said.
“It wasn’t my best performance obviously but it was enough today and I’m happy to get through.
“You have to be able to win without playing your best.”
Rodionova narrowly missed direct qualification into the Grand Slam and said she spent the last part of the year chasing rankings points to try to crack the top 100.
“I went to China, Japan, China and then back to Australia for a week and it was a little bit crazy and unnecessary and didn’t do me any good,” she said.
“I will learn from that and not do the same again.”
Gold Coaster Kimberly Birrell, back from a year blighted by injury, beat Western Australia’s Maddison Inglis 6-4 4-6 6-2 to keep her hopes alive of reaching the Open main draw.
Birrell’s dad John runs Tennis Plus at Queens Park Tennis Centre in Southport and the young star has been using that base to finetune her game in recent weeks.
Also joining others in the quarters of the playoff tournament was Destanee Aiava, who received a scare on her way to staving off fellow Victorian Masa Jovanic.
Denied a wildcard when beaten in the 18-and-under final by Jaimee Fourlis on Saturday, Aiava dropped the first set to Jovanic.
But the 18-year-old recovered to power to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
In other matches, Alexandra Bozovic defeated Rodionova’s sister Anastasia, while Queensland duo Naiktha Bains and Olivia Tjandramulia also advance. The men’s quarter-finals start today.