Australian Bernard Tomic has made an impressive start at the Sydney International, dispatching Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling in straight sets on Tuesday.
Looking to make a third straight appearance in the Sydney final, Tomic eased past Sijsling 6-1 6-2 in just 43 minutes to setup a second round matchup with German third-seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who advanced courtesy of an opening round bye.
After breaking Sijsling in the fourth game, Tomic rolled on to close out the first set in just 19 minutes. It was much of the same in the second set as the 22-year-old wrapped up the match with an eighth ace after winning 85 per cent of his first serves.
“I love playing here for some reason,” Tomic, winner of 10 of his last 11 matches at the tournament, said. “It just makes me play my best tennis. I love this court, the centre court in Sydney is one of the nicest courts for me to play on, the [Ken] Rosewall Arena.
“But I have to start well. (Kohlschreiber) plays a style that’s tough, and he likes those rallies where you move him around.
“I learned in Brisbane when I started a little bit slow in the quarterfinals against Kei and got kicked off the court in like an hour. If I can serve the way I served today, then I’m going to have confidence leading into that match.”
Also on Tuesday, former world No.4 Juan Martin del Potro made a successful return from an 11-month stint on the sidelines by defeating Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3 7-6 (7-4).
The wildcard entrant and last year’s winner showed little signs of rust in the comeback and advances to face top seed Fabio Fognini in the second round.
Fellow Aussie Marinko Matosevic bowed out in the first round on Monday to world No.51 Simone Bolelli 6-3 6-2 after a hectic travel schedule saw the 29-year-old move from a first round knockout at last week’s Brisbane International before filling in for the Australian team at the Perth Hopman Cup two days later.
Photo: Matt King/Getty Images.
