Tomic closing on Open spot
GOLD Coaster Bernard Tomic is 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, yesterday.
The win was Tomic’s fifth from his past six matches on clay and left the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist two victories away from a place in the Roland Garros main draw.
Fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis battled back to beat French teenager Jaimee Floyd Angele 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in his first competitive outing since injuring his knee in an oncourt fall at last month’s Madrid Masters.
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.
Another Gold Coaster Samantha Stosur, a former Roland Garros finalist, continued her French Open build-up with first-round win in Strasbourg.