SMITH HAS SECOND GO
BERNARD Tomic is vowing to fight to save his career as he faces the humiliating prospect of having to qualify for the Australian Open following a disastrous first- round US Open loss in New York.
In his first match since being fined a Wimbledon- record $ US15,000 for saying he was “a little bored” during his firstround defeat at the All England Club, Tomic succumbed 3- 6 6- 3 6- 4 6- 4 to 19th seed Gilles Simon. Tomic is projected to slump to 142nd in the rankings, leaving the former world No. 17 at a career crossroad. ASHLEIGH Barty has completed a banner first day for Australia’s women’s tennis stars with a crushing win over the US Open’s 21st seed.
Barty opened up the draw for herself with a 4- 6 6- 0 6- 1 triumph over highly rated Croat Ana Konjuh to join Arina Rodionova and Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round.
Flying after collecting her maiden WTA title in New Haven on Sunday, former US Open junior champion Daria Gavrilova will have the chance to make it four from four for Australia’s women today.
And that’s without injured 2011 champion and former world No. 4 Samantha Stosur.
“Obviously we had a pretty good day and I feel like Aussie women’s tennis is moving in the right direction,” Barty said.
“Hopefully Dasha can play well tomorrow as well.” THE American dream is still not over for Townsville’s John PatrickSmith after losing in four sets to Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano at the first round of the US Open.
Smith went down 7- 6( 5) 6- 4 3- 6 7- 6( 4) to world No. 81 Fabbiano yesterday during an action- packed session at Flushing Meadows, which saw fellow Australian Bernard Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis also knocked out in the opening round of the men’s singles tournament.
But the tournament is still kicking on for Smith, who will link with American right- hander Nicholas Monroe in the men’s doubles starting tomorrow.
Smith and Monroe will take on Jonathan Eysseric ( France) and Frank Skugor ( Croatia) in the Round of 64.
Smith’s former Tennis Townsville coach Wayne Hannah said the first- round exit would not torpedo the rest of Smith’s season.
“He loves it, he’s got a very good attitude,” he said.
“That’s his major asset, a positive attitude, and I’d say he’d be happy with qualifying.
“It’s just when he loses a first set that JP seems to struggle, he’s lost a lot of tight matches that way,” Hannah said.
“But he got some ranking points from it and the money he earned will set him up for the rest of the year.”
The former Tennis Townsville junior was rewarded with $ 63,000 in prizemoney, a significant shot in the arm for the 28- year- old who this year accumulated $ US82,065 ($ 103,000) in tournament prizemoney leading into yesterday’s match.
Smith navigated his way through qualifying and was a strong chance of defeating Fabbiano following a purple patch of form that included winning through to the main draw of the ATP 1000 series event in Cincinnati.
Smith still has plenty of tennis on his plate following the US Open, with his schedule set to include the Brisbane International and Australian Open qualifiers.