Saturday, January 12, 2013

Millman on a roll ahead of Open

Updated January 08, 2013 23:14:59

John Millman is starting to enjoy this caper of hanging around at tennis tournaments.

Mostly unknown outside major tennis circles a little over a week ago, Millman continued his well of recent good form by winning through to the last 16 of the Sydney International.

The good-humoured world number 191 brushed aside former top five player Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4 in blistering heat at Olympic Park in what has so far been a summer to remember.

Last week he started with three qualifying wins at the Brisbane International before taking down Japan's Tatsuma Ito.

He then pushed eventual winner and world number three Andy Murray to three tight sets.

And far from finding life a grind on tour - he loves it.

"When I was in Brisbane I wanted to stay around as long as possible; now that I'm in Sydney I want to stay as long as possible," he said.

"I kind of like the hotel I'm staying at."

Given Millman faces world number 23 Andreas Seppi in the round of 16 he appreciates he will have to pull out something even more special if he is to earn another night's accommodation in Sydney.

"Everyone I've spoken to - and I'll do a little bit more research a little bit later - (says) he's a tough bugger," he said.

"He'll definitely make me work out there. It's going to be a really stern challenge for me, but one that I'm going to look forward to."

Having sat out six months of 2011 with a shoulder injury, Millman spent much of 2012 getting his game back in order on the challenger tour.

He is now keen for regular competition on the main tour and to take advantage of the wildcard he's been handed for next week's Australian Open.

Then there's his brother-in-law and fellow tennis professional Robert Smeets to take care of.

Smeets is currently in hiatus from the game but did reach a world ranking of 109 back in 2008.

"I want to knock off him and then get inside that top 100. So that's the goal," Millman said with a grin.

"That's what motivates me at the movement. He's over in the States right now watching every little point I play because he knows that I'm knocking on his door."

Other men's winners on Tuesday were Radek Stepanek, Feliciano Lopez and Jarkko Nieminen.

In other matches Bernard Tomic accounted for countryman Marinko Matosevic 6-3, 6-4 and Grigor Dimitrov failed to keep up his good form following his final appearance in Brisbane, going down to Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-1.

Ryan Harrison and Kevin Anderson also made it through to the next round.

In the Auckland Men's Open, Australian Greg Jones - ranked 373 in the world - earned a second round spot with a shock win over former top 10 player Jurgen Melzer, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2.

The 23-year-old has been as high as 179 in the world but after taking top 20 player Alexandr Dolgopolov to five sets in the first round of the Australian Open last January the rest of the year did not go to plan.

"My year was pretty diabolical. I was injured for three months with my knee and then five weeks at the end of the year with my elbow, but in between that was probably one large mental injury," he said.

Auckland has been a different story, as he has come through three rounds of qualifying before Tuesday's win over Melzer.

Other winners included Gael Monfils, Jesse Levine, Alejandro Falla, Igor Sijsling, Lukas Lacko and Santiago Giraldo.

AAP

Tags: sport, tennis, qld, sydney-2000

First posted January 08, 2013 14:00:16


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