Holt in motion in opposition to Tomic.
| Photograph Credit score: SUDHAKARA JAIN
Bernard Tomic will stay one in every of modern-day tennis’ greatest ‘What-Ifs’. As a youngster, he sparred with the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and early in his 20s, beat top-10 gamers comparable to Marin Cilic, David Ferrer and Kei Nishikori.
However today, the 32-year-old is ranked within the 200s (219) and predominantly performs on the ATP Challenger circuit. He was final within the top-100 in August 2019 and hasn’t received a title at Challengers or above since 2018 (ATP 250 in Chengdu).
Thursday’s round-of-16 match on the Bengaluru Open in opposition to United States’ Brandon Holt was a microcosm of Tomic’s profession – plenty of promise at first, a wrestle within the center earlier than a gradual truly fizzling out. The Australian misplaced 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, and hours later, made a hurried exit from doubles as properly.
It might nonetheless be a disservice to not credit score Holt. If Tomic had pedigree, his American opponent had type. In January, the 26-year-old received his maiden Challenger trophy, and final Sunday, he made the ultimate in Pune. Holt does include nice legacy, for he’s the son of former girls’s World No. 1 and two-time US Open champion Tracy Austin. However in opposition to Tomic, it was his court-craft that helped.
Tomic performed a fantastic first set, hitting the ball flat and clear, and mixing it up with some vicious slicing. However at no level did Holt appear far behind. He was total regular, extended rallies and examined Tomic’s endurance. It cracked as soon as within the opening recreation of the second set however decisively within the tenth for Holt to stage the competition.
Within the decider, Holt broke within the opening recreation and upped his service a notch, profitable 80% of first-serve factors in opposition to a match-average of 68%. Beneath the unrelenting solar, Tomic fizzled out, and the tip got here when Holt planted an ace to deliver up his first match-point and drew a forehand error.
“He’s a tough participant,” Holt mentioned later. “He has all of the photographs, a very good serve, good palms, and good really feel. That’s most likely one of many greatest the reason why he’s had a lot success within the sport. So I needed to simply be prepared for all of the totally different situations that he can throw at you. I used to be prepared for it and it labored out.
“I feel I’ve robust health proper now. I’m in fairly fine condition. I didn’t decline in any respect in my vitality ranges. The extra bodily the match appeared to get, the higher the possibilities have been for me. The longer the rally went, the higher,” he added.
Different outcomes: Singles (round-of-16): Shintaro Mochizuki (Jpn) bt Jay Clarke (GBr) 5-7, 6-1, 6-2; Hynek Barton (Cze) bt August Holmgren (Den) 7-6(5), 6-3; Petr Bar Biryukov (Rus) bt Nicolas Alvarez Varona (Esp) 6-4, 7-6(5).
Doubles (quarterfinals): Siddhant Banthia & Parikshit Somani bt Nicolas Mejia (Col) & Tomic 7-5, 6-0; Saketh Myneni & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Barton & Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) 6-3, 6-3; Anirudh Chandrasekar & Ray Ho (Tpe) bt S.D. Prajwal Dev & Aryan Shah 7-6(5), 7-5.
Printed – February 27, 2025 08:47 pm IST
