Latest news with #RinkyHijikata
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Bernard Tomic produces come from behind heroics to win first ATP match since 2021
Aussie tennis bad boy Bernard Tomic has ended his four-year wait for an ATP Tour victory with a resilient comeback win over fellow Australian Rinky Hijikata in Spain overnight. Despite not qualifying for Wimbledon, the 32-year-old headed straight for the Mallorca Championships in hopes of regaining his old form. Victory looked bleak for Tomic as he stared down the barrel of defeat down 3-5 in the second set on the grass courts. But with one game away from loss the resurgent veteran battled back to take the match 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. The win was his first top level victory on the main tour in over four years, since the 2021 Australian Open (by retirement), and first by winning match point since mid-2019. In a strong performance, Tomic finished with nine aces, converting four from five break points and for one run in the match won 12 consecutive points. The win pushes him from world No. 243 to the edge of the top 200 in a resurgent push to revive his career. The shift has been a change from the troubled times in the limelight that has made up much of Tomic's career on tour. He last won an ATP tournament in 2018 when he claimed the Chengdu Open in China before his decline. The Aussie was once of the country's brightest prospects but his career was derailed by a party lifestyle, various bust-ups with officials, run-ins with spectators and allegations of tanking games. Despite no charges being laid in the end, the most serious came in 2022 with investigations into alleged match fixing. But all that seems well behind Tomic as the star looks for a personal and professional revival three years later. Having just missed qualifying for the grass court tournament in London, Tomic found form in Spain early after pulling off upset wins over World No. 93 Jesper De Jong and No. 77 Aleksandar Kovacevic just to make the main draw. Before then the Gold Coaster had not beaten a rival inside the top 100 for more than two years. His defeat now of Hijikata — who will be part of the main draw at Wimbledon — in the Round of 32 puts him in the fold to make a push for the final grand slam of the year, the US Open in August. Tomic is now the last Aussie in the tournament, while James Duckworth has also advanced to the Round of 16 in the Eastbourne Open after defeating Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1. Tomic will next play No. 7 seed on home turf, Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut early tomorrow morning.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Tennis bad boy Bernard Tomic stuns his critics with four-year first as he tries to resurrect his career
The party was over years ago, and his name remains the object of criticism, not to say ridicule in many quarters, but veteran Australian bad-boy Bernard Tomic is plotting a quiet revival. It has been some time since he was making headlines, often for the wrong reasons, but he passed a modest professional milestone at the Mallorca Country Club on Tuesday. And brighter days could lie ahead for the 32-year-old, who has won four ATP titles and reached a high point of No.17 on the world rankings list in 2016. His Mallorca Open first-round defeat of fellow Australian Rinky Hijikata was his first win on the main Tour since the 2021 Australian Open. The world No.248, a qualifier at the Iberian tournament, will now face home hope Roberto Bautista Agut. Having narrowly missed the cut-off for Wimbledon qualifying, Tomic decided not to hang around in the hope of a late withdrawal in London. Instead, he packed his bags and headed to the Spanish island of Mallorca, home of 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal, and what he hoped would be another step on the long road back. Over the weekend he defeated Jasper De Jong, a Dutchman ranked 93 who recently won a round at the French Open, and Aleksandar Kovacevic, an American who sits at 77, to qualify for an event where the winner pockets A$250,000. Far from the big stages of sport, Tomic has been slogging it out on the tour backwaters in lower-level and Challenger events in an attempt to break back into the top 100. It is all a distance from his colourful - and troubled - life in the limelight. The talent was there, he was once heralded as one of Australia's most promising stars, but it was so often overshadowed by brushes with various branches of officialdom, bust-ups with spectators and accusations of tanking. He even made a much-derided and very short-lived appearance on the TV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here in 2018. On a darker side, there was the investigation for alleged match-fixing in 2022, though no charges were laid. Fast forward three years and perhaps a revival stirs. The Gold Coaster's defeat of Hijikata, who has already qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon, means he will jump to a spot just outside the top 200, which would put him in the frame to play in qualifying for the US Open in New York in late August.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Bernard Tomic wins first ATP tour-level match in four years in Spain
Bernard Tomic displayed the sort of fight that was absent in his fall from the top to record his first ATP tour-level win for four years in Mallorca. Tomic, the former world No.17 who hadn't played a tour-level event since the 2021 Australian Open, came from a set down to topple fellow Aussie, Wimbledon-bound Rinky Hijikata 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Down 3-5 in the second set on the grass courts in Spain, Tomic rallied to claim his third consecutive top-100 scalp and jump to 214 on the live rankings. Tomic, 32, has won four ATP titles and reached his ranking high in 2016. But nearly a decade later, the Queenslander is showing signs of a resurgence most thought couldn't happen. Bernie on the rise ðŸ'ˆðŸ‡¦ðŸ‡° Bernard Tomic delivers an impressive 3-6 7-5 6-2 comeback win over Rinky Hijikata. Tomic was down 5-3 in the second set before taking control of the match! First tour level win since AO2021. Love to see it! #BernardTomic #Tomic #MallorcaChampionships — Samuel Begg - Tennis (@samuelbegg) June 24, 2025 The win came after Tomic won twice in qualifying to make the main draw, having been slogging it out in lower level and Challenger events in an attempt to break back into the top 100. More wins could put Tomic in the frame to play in qualifying for the US Open in New York in late August. His victory came as fellow Australians James McCabe, Tristan Schoolkate, Li Tu and Alex Bolt all successfully kickstarted their Wimbledon 2025 qualifying campaigns with wins. For 21-year-old McCabe, it marked a brilliant Wimbledon qualifying debut having also tried to qualify for the French Open. '(I'm) grateful to be out here, and it's everyone's dream to play the slams,' he said. 'It was my first (Roland Garros last month) and now it's my first Wimbledon, so it's an unreal experience.' There are already 13 Australians qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon.
CNA
4 days ago
- Sport
- CNA
Forgotten man Tomic earns first Tour win since 2021
MALLORCA :Australia's forgotten bad boy Bernard Tomic earned his first ATP main draw victory since 2021 on Tuesday as he hit back from a set down to beat Rinky Hijikata at the Mallorca Open. The 32-year-old, once ranked 17th in the world but now languishing down at 248, battled to a 3-6 7-5 6-2 to set up a clash against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. Tomic's questionable attitude has attracted plenty of criticism throughout his career, often bragging about his party lifestyle and earnings and having numerous run-ins with authority over his penchant for speeding in sports cars. But he appears to be giving tennis one last throw of the dice and skipped trying to qualify for Wimbledon in preference of trying to earn some ranking points by qualifying in Mallorca and boosting his hopes of a top-100 return. Qualifying wins in Mallorca against Dutchman Jasper De Jong and Aleksandar Kovacevic, both ranked in the top 100, earned him his chance and he took it against wildcard Hijikata. It was his first main draw win since beating Yuichi Sugita in the opening round of the 2021 Australian Open. Bautista Agut, 37, will provide a stern test of Tomic's desire after the Spaniard continued his recent resurgence with a 5-7 6-3 6-2 defeat of Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Top seed Ben Shelton begins his Mallorca quest on Wednesday against fellow American Learner Tien. The 22-year-old Shelton, ranked 10 in the world, warmed up on Tuesday with a knock-about against Mallorca's former NBA star Rudy Fernandez before shooting some hoops. "It was fun, Rudy is a really nice guy, I'd never met him before," Shelton said of the former Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets player. "He's a better tennis player than I was expecting."
Reuters
4 days ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Forgotten man Tomic earns first Tour win since 2021
MALLORCA, June 24 (Reuters) - Australia's forgotten bad boy Bernard Tomic earned his first ATP main draw victory since 2021 on Tuesday as he hit back from a set down to beat Rinky Hijikata at the Mallorca Open. The 32-year-old, once ranked 17th in the world but now languishing down at 248, battled to a 3-6 7-5 6-2 to set up a clash against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. Tomic's questionable attitude has attracted plenty of criticism throughout his career, often bragging about his party lifestyle and earnings and having numerous run-ins with authority over his penchant for speeding in sports cars. But he appears to be giving tennis one last throw of the dice and skipped trying to qualify for Wimbledon in preference of trying to earn some ranking points by qualifying in Mallorca and boosting his hopes of a top-100 return. Qualifying wins in Mallorca against Dutchman Jasper De Jong and Aleksandar Kovacevic, both ranked in the top 100, earned him his chance and he took it against wildcard Hijikata. It was his first main draw win since beating Yuichi Sugita in the opening round of the 2021 Australian Open. Bautista Agut, 37, will provide a stern test of Tomic's desire after the Spaniard continued his recent resurgence with a 5-7 6-3 6-2 defeat of Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Top seed Ben Shelton begins his Mallorca quest on Wednesday against fellow American Learner Tien. The 22-year-old Shelton, ranked 10 in the world, warmed up on Tuesday with a knock-about against Mallorca's former NBA star Rudy Fernandez before shooting some hoops. "It was fun, Rudy is a really nice guy, I'd never met him before," Shelton said of the former Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets player. "He's a better tennis player than I was expecting."
