Tomic aims for top 10 ranking in 2013

Updated December 29, 2012 09:16:15

Australia's Bernard Tomic has set his sights on becoming one of the world's 10 best players as he prepares to begin the new season by competing in Perth's Hopman Cup.

Tomic will partner 16-year-old partner Ashleigh Barty against Germany tomorrow.

The 20-year-old has been plagued by numerous off-court problems and seeing his ranking drop from 27th, six months ago, to 52nd now.

This led Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter dropped Tomic from his squad for the upcoming qualifier with Taiwan in February and fellow Gold Coast player Sam Stosur was one of many voices telling the 2011 Wimbledon quarter-finalist to dedicate himself to the sport.

Tomic insists he has done this and is setting himself high goals for the 2013 season.

"I would like to reach the top 10 by the end of the year," Tomic said.

"I'm sure if I do the right things and commit like I've agreed to myself I'll do quite well.

"This year was a big learning year for me.

"It was one of my biggest years so far."

He said he did not consider himself up against the wall as he did last year.

"It wasn't the underdog feeling I had in 2011 when I did well at Wimbledon," he said.

"It was a different feeling this year.

"There were a few tournaments to defend and I got used to the pressure and I didn't quite handle it well.

"I feel I've learned a lot this year and it's going to help me a lot for the start of 2013.

"I've got to focus, it's tough and you're going to lose some matches, but as long as I put my head down and work the way I've been working the last two months I'll get results."

Tags: sport, tennis, perth-6000

First posted December 28, 2012 18:35:35

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Ebden falls short in Sydney

Updated January 07, 2013 18:45:31

Australian wildcard entry Matthew Ebden has been knocked out in the first round of the Sydney International in a tough three-set loss to Spain's Marcel Granollers.

The 25-year-old Perth native started strongly and looked headed for victory before the world number 34 re-took the momentum and eventually the match 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 in 2 hours 21 minutes.

Ebden - ranked 105 in the world - was a set and a break up at 5-4 in the second set, but Granollers summoned a big effort to take the next three games and level the match.

Granollers then broke Ebden's serve and held his own to go 3-1 up in the deciding set.

The crucial fifth game then went to five deuces as the Spanish player tried to strike again for a decisive double break.

Ebden saved a number of break points before finally losing the game to go 4-1 down.

Granollers held his serve again before breaking the Australian for the third time to take the set and the match.

Earlier, another Australian wildcard James Duckworth bowed out following a tight three-set struggle against Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin.

The 20-year-old Duckworth, ranked 209 in the world, won the first set before Istomin finally triumphed 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

It was an encouraging showing from Duckworth against Istomin, who beat Lleyton Hewitt en route to making the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International last week.

Fifth seed Florian Mayer of Germany accounted for Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-1, 6-1.

In the women's draw, Serbia's former world number one Jelena Jankovic defeated Austria's Tamira Paszek 6-2, 7-6(7-5) and Italy's Roberta Vinci upset eighth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 7-5, 7-5.

Tags: tennis, sport, sydney-2000

First posted January 07, 2013 13:52:01

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Gajdosova finding form at right time

Updated January 09, 2013 23:51:59

Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova is taking little from her demolition of Belarusian Olga Govortsova to reach the quarter-finals of the Hobart International.

Gajdosova breezed past the world number 57, winning the second-round match 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and eight minutes on Wednesday.

The Slovakian-born 25-year-old played some blistering groundstrokes and served well in windy conditions against Govortsova, who had ousted fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro in the opening round.

But she says her comeback after several months out of the game last year still has a long way to go.

Asked what she would like to fix in her game, the world number 167 did not hold back.

"Everything," she told reporters at the Domain Tennis Centre.

"There are still a lot of things to do better on court - ground strokes, serves, less errors, stay more patient, move better, be tactically better.

"It's a work in progress."

The Australian former world number 25 was handed a wildcard into the event she won in 2011.

She said her game needed to reach another level as she desperately tries to make the second round of the Australian Open next week for the first time in eight attempts.

"I know this is not the best I can be and I'm trying to go from this level to the next one," she said.

"It's nice to be in the quarters and get more matches under my belt.

"My game is not at the point I would like it to be, but its a good start."

Before Melbourne Park will come world number 68 Russian Elena Vesnina on Thursday.

"She's one of the nicest girls I know and we talk quite a lot so it will definitely be a very nice match," Gajdosova said.

The Australian broke Govortsova in the third game of the first set to lead 2-1 before the Belarusian broke back in the sixth for 3-3.

Gajdosova broke again in the seventh and ninth games, converting her second set point after 44 minutes.

Govortsova held only her opening service game in the second set as the Australian powered her way to a convincing victory.

"It wasn't the best performance but it was solid when it had to be and I played good points when I had to," she said.

Later on Wednesday, third seed Czech Klara Zakopalova won the first set but ultimately fell to qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Romanian Monica Niculescu handed a similar result to China's Shuai Peng, coming from a set back to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the late second-round clash.

AAP

Tags: sport, tennis, hobart-7000

First posted January 09, 2013 14:05:55

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Azarenka starts 2013 in style

Updated January 02, 2013 23:25:33

World number one Victoria Azarenka has continued her Down Under love affair by warming up impressively for her Australian Open tennis defence.

In her first match of the 2013 season, Azarenka maintained her flawless record at the Brisbane International with a 6-3, 6-3 second-round victory over German Sabine Lisicki.

The 23-year-old did not drop a set en route to the inaugural tournament title in 2009 and she never gave the world number 37 a look in during her return on Wednesday night.

The flat, heavy groundstrokes and strong return of Lisicki's big serve held sway over one hour 27 minutes to take her unbeaten match record to four against the German.

Azarenka thrives on the Australian plexicushion courts and broke through for her maiden grand slam win at Melbourne Park last year - wiping Maria Sharapova off Rod Laver Arena 6-3, 6-0 in the final - after previously taking out the Sydney International.

It was the springboard to a 26-match unbeaten streak, the longest on the WTA Tour since Martina Hingis in 1997, which propelled her to the number one ranking.

Azarenka will play Kazakhstan qualifier Ksenia Pervak, who upset Caroline Wozniacki in the opening round, in a Thursday quarter-final but is set for a semi-final showdown against Serena Williams in a mouth-watering replay of the 2012 US Open final.

World number three Williams will play compatriot Sloane Stephens in her Thursday night quarter-final.

Lisicki upset Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon last year but could not keep the pressure on Azarenka.

The 23-year-old threatened to take the match into a third set by clawing back to 3-4 in the second but the top seed lifted to close out the match.

Azarenka praised Lisicki's serve and fight in what was a tough battle.

"At the beginning, it's always good to see where you're at right from the start so I'm happy I went through it," she said.

"There's things to work on and hopefully tomorrow I will be better."

In the night's other match in the women's draw, American Sloane Stephens beat Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-4.

Earlier in the day, Jarmila Gajdososova became the last Australian woman to be eliminated from the tournament when she lost to lucky loser Lesia Tsurenko.

In the men's competition, fourth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov beat Jarko Nieminen 6-2, 4-1 on Wednesday evening when the Finnish player pulled out due to a migraine.

Earlier, fifth seed Kei Nishikori beat Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-3, third seed Gilles Simon beat Alejandro Falla 7-6, 7-6 and Marcos Baghdatis upset sixth seed Florian Mayer.

AAP

Tags: sport, tennis, brisbane-4000

First posted January 02, 2013 23:09:46

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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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Gajdosova ends horror year with win

Updated December 30, 2012 21:39:06

An emotional Jarmila Gajdosova ended a horror 2012 with a stirring triumph, upsetting world number 16 Roberta Vinci at the Brisbane International.

Scoring her first win in a main draw match since the French Open, Gajdosova came from a set down to eliminate the Italian 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round at Pat Rafter Arena.

The Slovak-born Melbourne baseliner reached a career-high ranking of number 25 in 2011 but had fallen to 183 following the death of her mother in September.

Gajdosova shed tears when she closed out the 110-minute match by breaking Vinci's serve for the third time in the third set.

She will play second seed Maria Sharapova in the second round on Tuesday.

"It's been a long road," Gajdosova told Grandstand.

"I haven't played since September. I had about six, seven weeks [off] then I trained for about eight weeks, so it's different training and different playing matches.

"So, I'm definitely missing the match practise, but I'm hoping if I can win here then hopefully I'll get that under my belt and I'll get better."

Vinci's serve dominated the first set but the powerful Gajdosova turned the tide in the second as she broke the world number one doubles player twice, and then carried on to be 4-1 up in the third.

"It's a great feeling to win again and to beat someone who is as highly ranked as Roberta is," Gajdosova said.

"She's a great player, so I'm very happy with how I started playing in Brisbane."

It was the second Australian success on the opening day of the Brisbane tournament as Perth late bloomer Bojana Bobusic enjoyed tense 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 qualifying upset of Czech Kristyna Pliskova in hot and windy conditions.

It was the 25-year-old's third straight three-set win in qualifying to propel her into the main draw, where she could strike former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

The Belgrade-born Bobusic, who completed a sociology degree at the University of California, won the Australian Open wildcard play-off a fortnight ago in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, 15-time major singles winner Serena Williams opened her Brisbane account with a clinical 6-2, 6-1 triumph over fellow American Varvara Lepchenko.

The third-seeded Williams withdrew from an exhibition tournament in Thailand last week because of fears she may not have recovered recent foot surgery.

But her concerns amounted to little following her win over Lepchenko.

"I was a little nervous, but I was completely fine," Williams said.

"I was excited to get an early start so just in case I did have any pain I could have tomorrow off, but everything was fine."

Sixth seed and 2011 Brisbane champion, Petra Kvitova, also advanced via a straight-sets win, with the Czech beating Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-4.

AAP/ABC

Tags: sport, tennis, brisbane-4000

First posted December 30, 2012 16:43:50

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Millman pushes Murray close

By Luke Pentony at Pat Rafter Arena

Updated January 06, 2013 11:06:43

Australian qualifier John Millman provided Andy Murray with a scare before the world number three secured a three-set victory at the Brisbane International.

The two-hour encounter was Murray's first appearance of the tournament - the Scot was given a bye in the opening round - and he nervously prevailed 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.

The scoreline in the first set was all but forgotten when Millman broke the Murray serve for the first time in the seventh game of the second.

He won his next service game and then served for the set at 5-4, only for Murray to break back to have the score locked on 5-5.

The raucous crowd crammed into Pat Rafter Arena sensed blood and Millman, a Brisbane native who was awarded an Australian Open wildcard earlier this week, did not disappoint.

The 23-year-old, ranked 199 in the world, rebounded to break Murray to lead 6-5 before capitalising on his fifth set point in the following game when Murray netted a service return.

The third set started positively for Millman, who enjoyed a break point at 1-1, but Murray saved and games continued to go serve on until the sixth.

Millman, starting to show signs of fatigue as Thursday began to creep towards Friday, dropped his service game, allowing Murray to jump out to a 4-2 lead.

The remaining three games went on serve, granting Murray passage through to the quarter-finals.

Murray is a hot favourite to defend his title in Brisbane and despite the US Open and Olympic champion being pushed to three sets, bookmakers would be wise not to change their minds.

The lanky 25-year-old opened his 2012 tilt with consecutive three-set victories only to find his rhythm and reel off three comprehensive wins all in straight sets.

He will now meet Denis Istomin in Friday's quarter-finals, the Uzbek having progressed to the last eight after defeating former world number one Lleyton Hewitt 7-5, 7-5.

The winner will meet either Ukrainian fourth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov or Japan's Kei Nishikori, who is seeded fifth, in the semi-finals.

The other side of the men's draw sees Bulgarian Gregor Dimitrov face Austrian seventh seed Jurgen Melzer and popular Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis take on the third-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.

Dimitrov sent Canada's second seed Milos Raonic packing with a 6-3, 6-4 win on Thursday, while Melzer accounted for Belgian David Goffin 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

Serena Williams set up a mouth-watering clash with world number one Victoria Azarenka following a tight quarter-final win.

Williams prevailed 6-4, 6-3 against plucky fellow American Sloane Stephens, the teenager producing an admirable display to underline her enormous potential.

Azarenka now awaits Williams in Friday's semi-final, but the world number three will back her chances against the Australian Open champion, who lost all four of their encounters in 2012.

The 19-year-old Stephens was not overawed to be sharing centre court with her more high-profile compatriot and this was evident in the first set.

Both held their opening two serves with a degree of ease, but Williams showed signs of being the first to crack when she trailed the 38th-ranked Stephens 0-30 in the fifth game.

The experience of the 15-time major singles champion told, however, and she held her serve but only two games later Stephens again put her opponent under pressure when she earned a break point.

Williams recovered and held serve again, although she would have been impressed by the ground strokes of Stephens, who displayed she could hit clean winners off both wings.

The match remained on serve until the 10th game when Williams clinched the first set by finally breaking Stephens, whose scrambling defence beyond the baseline failed to withhold the power of the current
Wimbledon and US Open champion.

Stephens again gave a good account of herself in the second set but she opened the door enough for Williams in the eighth game when she conceded a break point.

Williams did not need an invitation and having worked Stephens relentlessly around the court she broke serve to lead 5-3.

Victory then proved a mere formality for Williams, who served out the match to move through to the last four.

Azarenka progressed very comfortably into the last four earlier on Thursday, beating Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan, 6-1, 6-0.

The second semi-final will be contested between Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Ukrainian lucky loser Lesia Tsurenko.

Tsurenko replaced the injured second seed Maria Sharapova in the main draw and she has taken full advantage of the opportunity, having beaten experienced Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.

Pavlyuchenkova won through to the semi-finals with a 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3) upset of world number five German Angelique Kerber.

Tags: sport, tennis, brisbane-4000

First posted January 03, 2013 21:59:00

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