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Bernard Tomic will need to be at his best tonight if he hopes to defeat the in-form Alexandr Dolgopolov at the Apia International. Join us for live scores and commentary from 7.30pm AEDT.
After a clinical opening victory over Marcel Granollers in the first round, Tomic struggled somewhat in his three set victory over little known Blaz Kavcic and he will need to improve if he hopes to match Dolgopolov tonight.
Dolgopolov is playing some fine tennis at the moment as illustrated by his straight sets victory over second seed Jerzy Janowicz.
The Ukranian was in superb touch against Janowicz en route to a comprehensive 6-2, 6-2 victory against last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist.
With good form on the board, Dolgopolov will prove a real handful for Tomic tonight, particularly if the Ukrainian finds his range from the forehand side.
Dolgopolov also has a terrific head to head record against Tomic, winning five of the six matches they have played against each other on the ATP tour.
Given that Dolgopolov is in good form, Tomic’s performance tonight will demonstrate whether or not the Australian is in really good nick heading into next week’s Australian Open.
Tomic can ill-afford a slow start against Dolgopolov. The Australian’s opponent tonight can play some inspired tennis when momentum is on his side.
Dolgopolov however can be inconsistent himself and is known to produce plenty of unforced errors when under pressure.
Tomic is going to have to find his range early with the forehand given that this shot remains his biggest weapon.
Against Granollers, Tomic finished the match with 18 winners, mostly from the forehand side. In the second set, he broke Granollers down thanks largely to his ability to hit forehand winner after forehand winner, particularly in the second set.
Dolgopolov however has plenty of firepower of his own, so if Tomic wants to keep control of proceedings, he will need to keep Dolgopolov pinned deep inside the baseline.
Given his impressive victory over Janowicz, Dolgopolov deserves to start the favourite here, but Tomic on the back of a vocal home crowd may just do enough to win this.
Tomic in three sets.