Seventeen years after making his Australian Open debut, Bernard Tomic hit the familiar courts again. The former world no. 17 returned to the home Major for the first time since 2022 but could not make it a memorable run!
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Bernard suffered a 6-3, 6-1 loss to the 21st seed Jozef Kovalik in the first qualifying round, ending his campaign in an hour. The Slovak served at 71% and dropped 11 points in his games, facing no break points and mounting the pressure on the other side.
Tomic had nothing in his arsenal to endure and extend the battle. He dropped almost half of the points in his games and suffered four breaks from six opportunities presented to his opponent. Kovalik attacked and tamed his strokes nicely in a rock-solid victory.
They served well in the opening four games of the duel. Tomic squandered a game point at 2-2 and missed a routine forehand to drop serve and fall behind. Kovalik provided fine holds in games six and eight, forging a 5-3 advantage.
The Slovak made another push on the return in the ninth game. He converted the third set point after the rival's backhand mistake for 6-3 in 32 minutes. Jozef held after deuces in the third game of the second set and stepped in on the return in the next one.
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Kovalik drew Tomic's mistake and secured a break at love, moving 3-1 up and closer to the finish line. The Slovak held in game five for 4-1 and welcomed the opponent's backhand error in the next one for another break and a massive advantage.
Jozef served for the win at 5-1 and landed an ace down the T line to wrap up the duel in style and make a winning start.
