Troicki Edges Tomic In Istanbul

No. 6 seed Viktor Troicki came from a set down to beat Australia’s Bernard Tomic 3-6, 6-0, 7-5 at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open on Monday.

The Serbian, who reached the semi-finals in 2017 (l. to Raonic), hit 13 aces and broke Tomic on five occasions to emerge victorious after one hour and 49 minutes. Competing for the first time on the ATP World Tour since the 2017 Erste Bank Open 500 (l. Herbert), Tomic served for the match at 5-4 in the final set, but Troicki won four straight games to reach the second round.

Troicki takes a 3-2 lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Tomic and moves into a second-round encounter against Moldova’s Radu Albot or Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil.

Serbian Laslo Djere snapped a 10-match losing streak to upset Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 7-6(5), 7-6(6). The 22-year-old saved a set point at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break before booking his place in the second round after two hours and four minutes. The 2017 quarter-finalist (l. to Troicki), will meet Gazprom Hungarian Open semi-finalist Andreas Seppi for a place in the quarter-finals.

Did You Know?
Viktor Troicki and Bernard Tomic’s only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter on a clay court also went to three sets, with Troicki defeating the Australian 7-6(3), 6-7(4), 7-6(4) at the 2015 Internazionali BNL d’Italia.