Australian Tomic books clash with Simon

Last year’s quarter-finalist Tomic was leading the big-serving Karlovic 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 4-2 when the latter called it quits after two rounds of courtside treatment for his back.

The towering Karlovic seemed to shrug off the injury, summoning explosive serves and rocketing volleys to save four set points before winning the first-set tie-break. 

The 20-year-old Tomic, who reached his best ranking at 27 in the world last year, then secured a break in the sixth game and served out for the second set. After levelling the tie, Tomic was never again tested by the Croat, who threw in the towel six games into the final set. 

“It was very difficult today. I tried to stay in there as much as I could. I had chances but then they fell away. I lost them. But I had to stay in there and I managed to do that. In the third set he had three beak points but I cooled down to save that game which was huge. I broke him right after that to show him I could dig deep to get out of the situation like that and turn it around,” Karlovic said.

Waiting for Tomic in the quarter-finals is 2009 champion and last year’s runner-up Gilles Simon of France who was due to land in Bangkok last night fresh from claiming a home title in Metz by defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Eighth seed Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic rallied after losing the second set to beat Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-2). The Czech took full charge of the tie-break with solid baseline play to beat the error-prone Pole, who added to his six straight losses on the ATP and in Davis Cup.

“Lukasz is always a good player. I have beaten him on clay but never on hardcourt. I think he was a bit nervous because he has lost six matches in a row. So it’s a very good big win for me. I hope I can continue for the next round,” said the first-time visitor to Bangkok, who plays either Taiwan’s No 1 defending doubles champion Lu Yen-hsun, or Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy in the next round.

“I played Donskoy once in a Challenger. But Lu is also a good player, especially here. I will have to play good tennis to beat either of them,” said Rosol, who made headlines by knocking Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon last year.

In other matches yesterday, Lukas Lacko of Slovakia needed just 57 minutes to oust Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla 6-3 6-2. 

Go Soeda of Japan, one of the four Asians in the main draw, took one hour and 26 minutes to beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 3-6 6-1 6-2 in a battle of qualifiers. Go is the only qualifier to win a main-draw match as Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland was stopped by Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 5-7 6-7 (2-7).