Bernard Tomic will have an unwanted spell in order to recover form an illness that required him to receive medical treatment in the middle of his match with Croatia’s Borna Coric that resulted in a four-set loss, even though he may have produced the best clay court performance of his career.
Ahead of the match, the betting suggested that Tomic would lose in straight sets, as Coric has a giant slayer’s reputation for his collection of pelts that includes Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
Speculation centres around a possible viral infection that hampered Tomic, but he still manage to make Coric work for nearly three hours to secure a 3 – 6, 6 – 2, 7 – 6 (7 – 4), 7 – 6 (8 – 6) victory at Roland Garros.
Tomic got off to a blazing start, running up a 4 – 1 lead in the first set, which he won in less than half an hour, by keeping Couric off balance with deep, fast-paced crosscourt shots.
Couric broke Tomic twice in the second set to get to level and was ahead 2 – 1 in the third set when the match was stopped for Tomic to receive the attention of a trainer and a doctor.
He had an opportunity to level the match and force a fifth set in the fourth set tiebreaker, an unforced error on a backhand sent him packing.
