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Bernard Tomic has won the battle of Australians with a 6-4 7-6 6-3 win over Sam Groth on Hisense Arena tonight.
In a match dominated by the serve, Tomic was able to come out on top, with two breaks of serve, and a win in the second set tiebreaker.
It all started well for the Queenslander as he broke Groth’s serve in the third game of the match.
Tomic then took advantage of the break, held serve four times, and won the first set 6-4.
He would concede only four points on serve in the first set.
The set second was much tighter as both players dominated on serve.
Only Groth, in the third game of the set, would concede a break point in the set.
The set would be decided by a tiebreaker, with the breaker having a big outcome on the rest of the match.
Groth had the advantage early, taking a 5-3 lead in the tiebreaker.
He then had a set point with a 6-5 lead.
The Aussie then served a double fault to level the tiebreaker at 6-6.
Tomic, who won the next point, returned the favour with a double fault on set point at 7-6.
When he was presented with a second chance at 9-8, the Queenslander didn’t relinquish it, and took the set and the momentum of the match.
After playing a 5 set match on Wednesday, Groth struggled to mount a comeback, and went a break down in the 4th game of the third set.
Tomic would then control the match and only lose 5 more points on serve to take the victory and make his 2nd appearance in the 4th round of the Australian Open.
He was pleased with the win but conceded he didn’t play his best out there tonight.
“I played okay. I didn’t play that good, but I won. I’m happy I won in the end.”
“Today was not tennis, it was just (a) return of serve. I was getting the return back pretty good. I was happy. It was not tennis. I would love to play tennis today, but he was serving well. So it was just return, get the return back, and then after we see,” Tomic added.
He will now face Tomas Berdych in the fourth round, a contest that will be tough for the Australian.
“We played twice before. He’s a very, very good player. He’s been at the top for many years. I have to come to this match to play my tennis, and then I have a chance.
Tomic will hit with Lleyton Hewitt tomorrow, and ask him for advice on how to beat Berdych.
“I asked him. He said yes. Very nice of him. It’s good to see he supports everyone. Not just myself, but Nick. He’s an amazing character, an amazing guy. I respect him so much. I’m sure everybody respects Lleyton a lot. For me, if I hit with him tomorrow there’s a big chance, a big opportunity. It’s going to be good fun. I’m looking forward to this fourth round on Sunday.”
For Groth, he was happy with his tournament, despite the loss.
“I think I’m playing much better tennis and it’s a good step forward for me. Good summer (with) quarters in Brisbane (and) third round here. If you said that to me at the start of the year I’d probably take it, but this is where I want to be.”
Groth will now focus on doubles with Eric Butorac as they play tomorrow in their round of 32 clash.
Tomic will now face Tomas Berdych in a prime time match on Sunday Night.
At the end of tonight’s match, between Bernard Tomic and Sam Groth, one Australian will be in the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time since 2012.
Join The Roar for a live blog of the match from around 5:00pm AEDT.
In 2012, Lleyton Hewitt and Tomic, made the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer respectively to end their campaign.
Tonight, Tomic has the chance to repeat that performance, against a fellow Australian.
For Groth he has a big opportunity to make the fourth round of the tournament for the first time.
It would be an impressive achievement after only winning his second Grand Slam match in Round 1 against Filip Krajinovic.
For both players, they have been impressive so far.
Tomic defeated two Germans in the opening two rounds to progress to tonight’s match.
In Round 1, he defeated Tobias Kamke in four sets, before defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber in four sets as well to make the third round of the Open for the fourth time in his career. Groth has also impressed.
In Round 2, against a fatigued Thanasi Kokkinakis, he was able to win a tough match against his fellow Australian in 5 sets.
Tonight he will have to do the same against Tomic.
The match between him and Kokkinakis on Wednesday will put him in good stead for tonight.
He now knows how the Australian crowd will handle two Australians competing against each other.
How Tomic handles the reaction from the crowd will be interesting tonight.
He may not get the full support of the crowd, and they may side with Groth at times.
If Tomic can’t handle the lack of support then Groth can take advantage of that and power to victory.
How Tomic handles Groth’s serve will also be interesting.
It was clear on Wednesday that Kokkinakis struggled to deal with it.
If Tomic has similar problems then Groth can win plenty of free points on his serve.
I expect Tomic to handle it a little bit better though because of his experience on the ATP.
The goal for Tomic will be to move Groth around the court tonight.
While Groth has improved considerably in his movement, over the last 12 months, Tomic moves better around the court and has an advantage.
He needs to force Groth to move around and make errors to win plenty of points.
Tomic’s serve also needs to be strong.
So far it has been in his first two matches.
He has served 48 aces in his first two matches and is only two behind Groth in the aces tally.
He is also tied at the top of the leaderboard for 1st serves into play.
73% of the time, Tomic lands a 1st serve into play.
If he continues that tonight, then he will defeat Groth.
This match promises to be a big one.
Both players can win this match, and both have a big opportunity to gain some points for their ranking.
As a result of that, and his experience at the level, I lean towards Tomic tonight.
His movement, and serve, will help him against the big serve of Groth.
If he can play like he did in the first two rounds then he will beat Groth.
Groth will win sets tonight, and make it close, but Tomic will prevail in a classic match between the two.
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