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Bernard Tomic has blitzed through the first round of the Australian Open in a commanding straight sets victory over Thomaz Belluci.
Tomic never really looked under pressure throughout the match, starting off on the right foot after going up 3-0 in the first set within the first ten minutes of action.
Belluci was clearly out of his depth against the 27th seed Aussie on what is his least favourite surface, regularly returning serves wide and making silly errors. Couple that with his inability to win points consistently off his own serve due to a lack of power and unpredictability, and it was no wonder Tomic ran away with the match.
The first set ended with the score reading 6-2, and the second was almost a carbon copy, the only difference being Belluci couldn’t sneak in a second game, losing it 6-1.
The third saw a brief flurry of strong serving from the Brazillian, but it was probably also a drop off in intensity in the hot conditions on Margaret Court Arena, with the score going to a 4-4 deadlock.
Errors worked their way back into Belluci’s game though and he quickly bombed out, going down 6-4 in the final set as Tomic finished it off with some big serving.
Tomic will now move onto the second round and face Victor Estrella Burgos.
Bernard Tomic will be immediately under pressure in the first round of the Australian Open when he does battle with world no.62 Thomaz Belluci. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from around 12:30pm (AEDT) or following the completion of Marina Erakovic vs Garbiñe Muguruza on Margaret Court Arena.
Tomic had what can only be described as a very poor finish to 2016 and after not starting 2017 in any better form, he has dropped down the seedings to No.27 for his home grand slam.
While that will make his run into the later rounds a lot more difficult, he has been dealt a tough battle in the first round that could see him bow out at the first hurdle of a grand slam for the second time in as many attempts after he lost to Damir Dzumhur at last year’s US Open.
Tomic appeared confident after the off-season, but found a way to lose badly in Brisbane, going down to Spaniard David Ferrer in a worrying straight sets defeat.
Things didn’t improve for the Australian at Kooyong either as he went down in straight sets to Goffin. It makes four sets where Tomic hasn’t even looked the slightest bit competitive to start his 2017 season.
Belluci hasn’t exactly had a promising start to his season either, being blown off the court in his only match at the Sydney International by Nicolas Mahut.
After a similarly poor finish to 2016, the Brazilian world No.62 decided to stay in training until the week before the Australian Open, where he was promptly beaten 6-2, 7-6 in his first match against the Frenchman.
With that being the result, Belluci certainly doesn’t have any form to talk about although all reports suggest he is hitting the ball well in practice.
Belluci does have a real problem with hard courts, coming into this match with a career winning percentage of just 46 on the surface, so while he will be competitive, it’s hard to see him picking up the win based on numbers alone.
The pair have played on three previous occasions, although two of those were a number of years ago, in 2012 when Belluci won on clay in Stuttgart and Tomic on the hard court at Indian Wells.
Their most recent match came in Shenzhen last year with Belluci picking up a crushing 6-2, 6-2 win that has put Tomic onto his current losing streak, spanning five matches.
A second round meeting awaits the winner Victor Estrella Burgos or Aljaz Bedene for either Tomic or Belluci.
Prediction
Neither player is in great form, but Tomic, on home soil should find a way to pick up a pretty hard-fought victory.
Tomic in five sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this first round match at the Australian Open from around 12:30pm (AEDT) or following the completion of Marina Erakovic vs Garbiñe Muguruza on Margaret Court Arena and don’t forget to add a comment below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde