TENNIS: Prior to their second-round meeting at the US Open, Bernard Tomic revealed that in training with Lleyton Hewitt, he won 40 per cent of practice sets while his illustrious countrymen won 60.
In their first ever professional meeting, that ratio was reversed.
Tomic defeated his countryman in a match for the ages on the atmospheric Grandstand court, winning 6-3 6-2 3-6 5-7 7-5.
The win, achieved in three hours and 27 minutes, sends him through to a third-round meeting with No.12 seed Richard Gasquet.
For all the plaudits Hewitt receives for his mental toughness, credit must go to Tomic for demonstrating his own iron will.
Leading two sets to love – and having served for the match in the fourth – before wilting under the onslaught of a patented Hewitt comeback, the young Queenslander looked destined for defeat when he trailed 3-5 in the fifth set and faced two match points.
Against an inspired opponent and with the majority of the crowd willing the veteran to victory, Tomic admitted that he was nervous.
But despite battling cramps, he conjured some audacious shotmaking and reeled off four straight games to complete victory in a match that fans will recall for years to come.
Earlier in the match, it was one-way traffic.
Tomic was too solid in all departments, playing probing, consistent tennis and successfully pulling the trigger for winners when presented with the opportunity.
Hewitt was flat-footed and error-prone, and frequently shook his head in the direction of his camp. At the end of the second set he called for the trainer to work on his right leg.
Yet he never went away.
As has been a signature of his career, the 34-year-old tapped into a reserve of belief and began to battle; he read Tomic’s serve better, he cut the errors out of his game, and he forced his younger compatriot to miss.
He snared the third set and despite falling behind a break in the fourth, you had the sense that Tomic was barely holding on.
The 24th seed served for the match in the ninth game, but tightened up.
Amid a charged atmosphere under lights, Hewitt won four games in a row to send the match into a deciding set. The crowd roared.
Hewitt rode that momentum into the fifth, breaking serve in the seventh game.
He reached two match points up 15-40 in the ninth game, but Tomic swung for the fences, saving both and holding serve to remain in the match.
It proved a major momentum swing.
Energised, Tomic then powered through the remaining three games – which featured some momentus rallies – to seal victory, dropping his racquet in celebration.
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