Tennis: Tomic falls at first hurdle

WINSTON-SALEM: Australian Bernard Tomic endured another hardcourt defeat, exiting the opening round of ATP Winston-Salem to go into the US Open with plenty to prove. The 61st ranked player has won only one match since Wimbledon. At Winston-Salem it was Russian Igor Andreev who sent Tomic packing 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in a contest peppered with 22 aces. “It’s new tournament,” said Tomic. “I played well in the first set but he improved and did better than me overall. I need to be as physically fit as I can for next week, I need to build some strength before the Open.” American James Blake lined up a date with Dutch 10th seed Robin Haase by defeating Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-1.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd,  2011.