Australia’s Bernard Tomic claimed his second career title and secured a return to the world top 100 on Sunday when he beat defending champion Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) in the Claro Open Colombia final.
The 21-year-old Tomic, whose roller-coaster career took another twist when he split with global management company IMG last week, defied the 39 aces of Karlovic to take the victory in 2 hours, 13 minutes.
It was his second ATP Tour title, adding to a triumph at the Sydney International last year.
Photo: EPA
Victory also crowned a strong week in Bogota as he won consecutive matches for the first time since undergoing double hip surgery in late January.
The world No. 124 becomes the third player outside the top 100 to win a title this year, joining last week’s Swedish Open champion Pablo Cuevas and Munich winner Martin Klizan.
Tomic is also the first Australian champion in South America since Ken Rosewall triumphed in Buenos Aires in 1968.
Photo: AFP
For Karlovic, it was a second defeat in a final against an Australian opponent in the space of a week after the 2.11m Croatian giant had been defeated by Lleyton Hewitt in the Newport decider the previous Sunday.
In what turned out to be a good weekend for Australian tennis, Sam Groth and Chris Guccione won the doubles title in Bogota.
Tomic’s career had taken a downward turn since making the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open, a decline which saw his ATP Tour ranking slip from No. 27.
He withdrew in the first round of this year’s Australian Open against Rafael Nadal and underwent double hip surgery shortly afterwards. He then suffered a record 26-minute defeat on his comeback event in Miami.
Last year, his father John was charged with assaulting his son’s hitting partner, Frenchman Thomas Drouet, in Madrid.
BET-AT-HOME OPEN
AFP, HAMBURG, Germany
Argentina’s world No. 46 Leonardo Mayer captured his first ATP Tour title on Sunday when he fought back to defeat top seed David Ferrer of Spain 6-7 (3/7), 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) in the Bet-at-Home Open final in Hamburg, Grmany.
Mayer becomes the lowest-ranked winner of an ATP World Tour 500 tournament since world No. 54 Radek Stepanek clinched the Washington title in 2011.
The 27-year-old is enjoying one of the best spells of his career. Last month, the right-hander advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon and made his first ATP World Tour final in Vina del Mar, Chile, earlier this year.
“I can’t believe it,” Mayer said. “I was able to do it against Ferrer, who is one of the best players on this surface. I’m really happy and it still hasn’t sunk in that I won. At the start of the match, I was a little tense, but I relaxed and started to play better. He also made some mistakes that got me back into the match. I tried to enjoy it and that’s why I won, I think.”
The 32-year-old Ferrer was contesting his 44th ATP Tour title match and dropped to a 21-23 finals record.
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