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27th seed Bernard Tomic will be out to get back to his best in the third round of the Australian Open when he takes on the dangerous Englishman Daniel Evans. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from around 5pm (AEDT).
After a dreadful lead-in to the first grand slam of the year where Tomic lost both of his matches at Brisbane and Kooyong in straight sets, he seemed to break the shackles in the first round.
The Australian disposed of clay court specialist Thomaz Belluci in three punishing sets, dropping his lowest ever total of games in a grand slam match.
Tomic looked like a completely different player in the second round as he made 71 unforced errors on the way to a stuttering victory over the gutsy Victor Estrella Burgos.
The 27th seed played a slow style of game with no power, the complete opposite of what worked so well for him on Monday and he will need to return to that if he hopes to compete with Evans.
Unlike Tomic, the Brit had a fantastic start to the season. Despite a tough week in Perth at the Hopman Cup where he didn’t win a match, his first ATP event in Sydney went almost perfectly for the No.51.
After putting away both Dominic Thiem and Andrey Kuznetsov, he marched into the final only to fall at the final hurdle to Gilles Muller.
Evans attacking weapons have been fantastic so far this season, allowing him to pick up a lot of cheap points and keep opponents on the back foot. Making Tomic run from side to side will be his best chance, with Tomic’s noted fitness issues.
Evans took a more-or-less expected victory in the first round against Facundo Bagnis, wrapping up in three easy sets before pulling off a big upset over Marin Cilic to reach the fourth round, beating the former US Open champion in four sets.
The pair have faced twice previously, both on the hard court and both in big situations. The first was the second round of the 2013 US Open when both players were on the rise, Evans taking that meeting in four sets.
Tomic returned the favour more recently though during the 2015 Davis Cup, keeping Australia alive in the tie on Day 1 and taking a four-set victory – Evans is a very different player now though, so Tomic will have to be wary.
The winner will go onto face either 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or 23rd seed Jack Sock.
Prediction
There is no reason Tomic should lose this match, but if he plays like he did in the second round, then it won’t be good enough. Evans is in good form and will push Tomic all the way regardless here.
Tomic in five enthralling sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the match from around 5pm (AEDT) or at the completion of Andy Murray vs Sam Querrey on Hisense Arena.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde