Germany’s Florian Mayer defeated Bernard Tomic 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 on Monday, ending the Australian’s chances of playing top seed Novak Djokovic at the Montreal Masters.
Tomic, who was knocked out in the second round of the Citi Open in Washington last week by eventual champion Juan Martin del Potro, complained of windy conditions, but was more upset with his own lack of initiative after winning the opening set of the first-round encounter.
He will now have to hit the practice courts after missing a chance to build up some valuable hard-court experience before the start of the US Open in three weeks.
Photo: AFP
Qualifier Marinko Matosevic produced some good news for Australia by following up his defeat of Canada’s Milos Raonic last week in Washington with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Germany’s Benjamin Becker.
Jesse Levine earned the first Canadian win of the week as he beat Belgium’s Xavier Malisse 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) to book a clash with Rafael Nadal.
Spain’s Nadal last played six weeks ago, when he was toppled in the first round at Wimbledon.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori, seeded ninth, ended the hopes of another Canadian, downing Peter Polansky 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
A run of poor form continued for Janko Tipsarevic as the 16th seed was defeated by Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-3.
Croatian Ivan Dodig beat Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-1, 6-1 to set up a meeting with Del Potro.
Andreas Seppi of Italy needed three sets to get past Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), while Latvia’s streaky Ernests Gulbis found his game to dispatch Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.
Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci lost his fifth match in a row dating back a month, going down to Martin Klizan 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).
Australian No. 1 Tomic, ranked 41st in the world, got off to a good start, but could not maintain his form against the experienced Mayer.
“I was up 5-2 in the first set and should have closed it out in the second,” Tomic said. “In the second set I didn’t start that well. My concentration dropped and he played well.”
Tomic managed only two aces and lost his serve four times.
“Florian is one of those guys who plays well once he gets his nose ahead,” Tomic said. “In the first set he was tight, but in the second I missed my opportunities and didn’t focus very well — he took over then.”
ROGERS CUP
Reuters and AFP, TORONTO
Roberta Vinci fought back from a set down to beat Julia Goerges 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and move into the second round of the Rogers Cup on Monday.
The 10th-seeded Italian was joined by 14th seed Sloane Stephens of the US, who overcame Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
Vinci got off to a slow and struggled against the German’s big forehand in the opening set. However, she mixed up her attack in the second and third sets to upset Goerges’ rhythm and came out on top.
“In the third, I tried to play aggressive and to try to put a lot of balls in the court because sometimes she plays an unbelievable game, and then after not so good,” Vinci said. “So she has a lot of ups and downs. I didn’t play good tennis today, but the important thing was I won.”
World No. 12 Vinci, who has struggled on faster surfaces this season, but won clay-court titles in Katowice and Palermo, said the conditions and Goerges’ unpredictability made it a difficult match.
“For me, it was tough,” Vinci said. “Especially because there was a lot of wind and it’s not easy to play confident, but in the end, she played so bad, and probably she’s not confident and that’s why I won today.”
The Italian next faces either Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei or 16th seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.
Stephens, who was coming of an opening-round upset in the first round in Washington last week, got into her rhythm quickly against the big-hitting Mladenovic, but after winning the first set, she had trouble closing the match out.
“She upped her game a lot in the second set, and sometimes it’s going to be a little up and down, but I thought I stayed pretty solid and got through it,” the 20-year-old said.
“I knew she’s probably going to press a little bit and make me play more balls. I just tried to stay with it and hit a lot of angles and move her a bit. It seemed to work and I played solid, so it was good,” she said.
Britain’s Laura Robson withdrew prior to her singles match against Yanina Wickmayer with a right-wrist injury and was replaced by lucky loser Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who was beaten 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 by the Belgian.
Germany’s Mona Barthel rallied after dropping a first-set tiebreaker to beat China’s Zheng Jie 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/1).
Barthel plays Stephens next.
Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, the only other top 20 player in action on Monday and winner of the title in Stanford two weeks ago, took on compatriot Jana Cepelova and beat the qualifier 7-5, 6-4.
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