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Can Bernard Tomic become the 1st Australian in the men’s draw, since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005, to make the quarter finals of the Australian Open?
Find out as The Roar live blogs his match against Tomas Berdych with love scores from around 3:00pm AEDT.
For the first since 2012 Australia has two male players in the 4th round of the Australian Open.
On that last occasion, Bernard Tomic was one of them, as he made the 4th round for the first time.
Today he has a chance to improve on that, and make his second quarter final, in a Grand Slam event.
In 2011, in his second appearance in the main draw at Wimbledon, Tomic would announce his arrival on the tennis stage with a quarter final appearance at the All England Club.
Standing between him, and his first quarter final in Australia, is Tomas Berdych.
Berdych, the world number 7, is chasing his 5th straight final 8 appearance at the Australian Open.
Not since the 2010 open, when he made the 2nd round, has the Czech number 1 missed a quarter final.
It will be a tough match for Tomic.
Berdych hasn’t lost a set so far in the event. He has averaged 12 aces, and 41 winners, in each match as well. His power game is devastating when it is on song.
Tomic on the other hand, has fought through three tough battles, to progress to today.
Against Tobias Kamke in the opening round, Tomic lost the second set, before powering home in four sets.
It also took the Australian four sets to defeat Philipp Kohlschreiber in the 2nd round. In the third round, against fellow Australian, Sam Groth, Tomic played one of his best matches at the Australian Open.
He made just 8 unforced errors and returned impressively against the fastest server in the world.
Today’s match will all be about the power, and the serve of each player.
How Tomic handles the power of Berdych will be the key to the match.
In the previous two meetings between the two, both at Wimbledon, 4 of the 8 sets went to tiebreakers.
On each occasion, Berdych won in 4 sets.
Their last meeting was last year in Wimbledon. Tomic, still suffering from the hip surgery he had in Februay, was competitive for two sets before falling to the world number 7.
I expect today’s match to be much closer. Tomic has improved considerably in movement and fitness.
His serve has also been one of the best in the tournament so far.
He is 10th in aces with 57, 1st in 1st serves in, and 6th in break points saved.
When he gets his 1st serve in, he wins 78% of the points. If he plays like that today, then he will win sets, and trouble Berdych.
This match has 5 sets all over it.
The crowd, and the improved fitness, will help Tomic a lot.
I predict him to win sets today and he can defeat Berdych.
If he can handle the power of Berdych, which I believe he can, with his improved mobility then he is a chance of winning.
It is one of those matches that could be a classic encounter.
Let’s hope for Australia’s sake, on Australia Day weekend, that Tomic can break the 10 year drought of having an Australian in the quarter finals.
PREDICTION – Bernard Tomic 3-2
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