Tomic Wins Opener At Australian Open Qualifying

Former World No. 17 Bernard Tomic advanced to the second round of qualifying for the Australian Open on Wednesday. Now ranked No. 142 in the ATP Rankings, the Australian knocked out France’s Vincent Millot 6-1, 6-3 in 48 minutes.

Tomic, who needs to win two more matches in order to compete in the main draw for the 10th straight year, lost just eight points in the 15-minute first set. He’ll now play American Tommy Paul.

Groth, who watched Tomic’s victory courtside, was not so fortunate. American Taylor Fritz beat the Australian, who will retire from professional tennis after the first Grand Slam championship of the year, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3) for a second-round test against Mathias Bourgue of France. The 30-year-old Groth will play doubles with former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in Melbourne next week.

Serbia’s Danilo Petrovic, currently No. 255 in the ATP Rankings, knocked out second seed Nicolas Mahut of France 7-6(4), 6-3, while former World No. 25 Vasek Pospisil struck 12 aces in a 7-5, 7-6(3) victory over Lorenzo Giustino in one hour and 33 minutes.

Elsewhere, German No. 17 seed Dustin Brown beat Guido Andreozzi of Argentina 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and Brown’s compatriot Matthias Bachinger ousted Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3.

A total of 64 qualifying matches were completed at Melbourne Park on Wednesday. The draw ceremony for the Australian Open will be held on Margaret Court Arena at 8am GMT on 11 January.

Watch Live Streaming Of Qualifying From Melbourne Park