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Holt in action against Tomic.
| Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
Bernard Tomic will remain one of modern-day tennis’ biggest ‘What-Ifs’. As a teenager, he sparred with the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and early in his 20s, beat top-10 players such as Marin Cilic, David Ferrer and Kei Nishikori.
But these days, the 32-year-old is ranked in the 200s (219) and predominantly plays on the ATP Challenger circuit. He was last in the top-100 in August 2019 and hasn’t won a title at Challengers or above since 2018 (ATP 250 in Chengdu).
Thursday’s round-of-16 match at the Bengaluru Open against United States’ Brandon Holt was a microcosm of Tomic’s career – lots of promise in the beginning, a struggle in the middle before a gradual tapering off. The Australian lost 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, and hours later, made a hurried exit from doubles as well.
It would however be a disservice to not credit Holt. If Tomic had pedigree, his American opponent had form. In January, the 26-year-old won his maiden Challenger trophy, and last Sunday, he made the final in Pune. Holt does come with great legacy, for he is the son of former women’s World No. 1 and two-time US Open champion Tracy Austin. But against Tomic, it was his court-craft that helped.
Tomic played a fine first set, hitting the ball flat and clean, and mixing it up with some vicious slicing. But at no point did Holt seem far behind. He was overall steady, prolonged rallies and tested Tomic’s patience. It cracked once in the opening game of the second set but decisively in the 10th for Holt to level the contest.
In the decider, Holt broke in the opening game and upped his service a notch, winning 80% of first-serve points against a match-average of 68%. Under the unrelenting sun, Tomic fizzled out, and the end came when Holt planted an ace to bring up his first match-point and drew a forehand error.
Other results: Singles (round-of-16): Shintaro Mochizuki (Jpn) bt Jay Clarke (GBr) 5-7, 6-1, 6-2; Hynek Barton (Cze) bt August Holmgren (Den) 7-6(5), 6-3; Petr Bar Biryukov (Rus) bt Nicolas Alvarez Varona (Esp) 6-4, 7-6(5).
Doubles (quarterfinals): Siddhant Banthia & Parikshit Somani bt Nicolas Mejia (Col) & Tomic 7-5, 6-0; Saketh Myneni & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Barton & Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) 6-3, 6-3.
Published – February 27, 2025 08:47 pm IST
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Bengaluru Open | Holt rallies past Tomic
