Tomic ends title drought at Chengdu Open
BEIJING: Controversial Australian Bernard Tomic won his first tournament in three years on Sunday — and in the most dramatic of circumstances, saving four match points to triumph at the Chengdu Open.
The 25-year-old defeated top seed Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7) in a thrilling threesetter in southwest China, where he was a qualifier.
Victory for Tomic — his first ATP World Tour crown since Bogota in 2015 -- will propel the world-ranked 123 comfortably inside the top 100.
It was double disappointment for Fognini, who had been attempting to become the first Italian man to win four titles in a season.
For Tomic, it was a welcome change to be making headlines for the right reasons.
Once seen as a rising star, he has had a number of run-ins with authorities over the years.
In January he faced a backlash after boasting “I just count my millions” in response to failing to negotiate qualifying for the Australian Open.
In 2017, as his once-promising career nosedived, Tomic admitted he was sometimes “bored” during matches and not always giving 100 percent.
NISHIOKA WINS
Japanese qualifier Yoshi hit oN is hioka broke through for his maiden atp singles title on Sunday, outlasting seasoned Frenchman Pierre-hugues Herbert 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in a gruelling final at the Shenzhen Open.
The 23-year-old Nishioka, ranked 171 in the world, played seven matches across eight days at the Shenzhen Longgang Sports Centre but still had plenty of energy in a marathon final as he threw himself at everything Herbert could offer.
As the match clock ticked towards two-and-a-half hours in the southern Chinese city, Nishioka sealed the victory on his fifth match point –– and looked as though he could hardly believe what had just happened.
Twelve months ago, the Japanese player was stuck at home pondering his future after suffering an ACL injury. He will now return to the world’s top 100 after that injury saw his ranking plummet to as low as 362.
The 27-year-old Herbert rattled off 12 aces and helped his opponent’s cause with nine double faults as he poured on the power. But the Nishioka game plan –– waiting out the barrages and keeping his opponent moving -- worked a treat.
Both players came into the final unfancied and unseeded and both had yet to claim a ATP Tour singles title. Herbert had only made one final previously, losing in straight sets to South African Kevin Anderson at the Winston-salem Open in the US in 2015. Nishioka had never before graced the big stage.
Before the final Nishioka had attributed his run of form -- kickstarted by a title at the ATP Challenger Tour stop in Gimcheon, South Korea, four months ago —down to a change in attitude.
The 1.7-metre (five-foot-seven) Nishioka revealed he had previously been trying to play like “six footers” such as current world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain. But he had turned instead for inspiration to Chile’s former world number one Marcelo Rios, who stands around 1.75 metres (five-foot-nine).
HALEP PULLS OUT
World number one Simona Halep said that she was “worried now” after a persistent back problem forced her out of the China Open after just 31 miserable minutes on Sunday.
The Romanian never looked comfortable against Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur, losing the opening set of their first-round match 6-1 before calling it quits.
The 27-year-old Halep suffered a back injury a week ago in Wuhan and she cut a forlorn figure after it ended her Beijing adventure prematurely.
The top-ranked Halep’s departure is another blow to organisers in the Chinese capital, with Serena Williams missing from the women’s draw and several big names also absent from the men’s event.
“There is a pain, I couldn’t move properly so that’s why I stopped,” Halep, who suffered a shock early exit from the recent US Open, said.
“I don’t know exactly what it is. I will go home, I will have an MRI (scan) and I will see.” “I’m just worried now, I feel sad that I couldn’t finish,” Halep added, saying that she feared playing was making the problem worse and she knew from the start of the match that she was struggling.
GARCIA SURVIVES SCARE
Caroline Garcia survived a major scare before defeating wildcard Wang Yafan 7-6 (12/10), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 to open the defence of her China Open title in unconvincing fashion Sunday.
The 24-year-old from France defied a rattling roof and a surprisingly stiff challenge from the home player to labour into round two on Beijing’s hard courts after more than three hours of nervy action.
Garcia took the first set on a tiebreak after 77 minutes during which the retractable roof — which was closed — banged noisily on occasion in the wind. The fourth-ranked French player and Wang, 78th in the world, went to battle again in the second set and Garcia came back to force another tie-break.
Garcia, who won back-to-back titles last year in China in a breakthrough 2017, rescued one set point in the tie-break but Wang made the second count to force a deciding set.