Tomic earns cheers instead of jeers

Bernard Tomic was delighted to depart Melbourne Park to cheers instead of jeers after powering into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday.

Returning for his first match since quitting against Rafael Nadal last year, Tomic won back the fans with a well-earned 7-5 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 6-2 win over Tobias Kamke at Hisense Arena.

The 22-year-old was roundly booed at Rod Laver Arena after retiring one set into his much-hyped showdown with the world No.1 in 2014.

Tomic subsequently required double hip surgery that sidelined the former Open junior champion for four months.

“It was a very emotional win for me after last year,” Tomic said after setting up a return clash on Wednesday with 22nd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, the German he took care of in straight sets en route to the quarter-finals of last week’s Sydney International.

Tomic admitted his return to Melbourne Park following his stoppage against Nadal brought back painful memories.

“For me to win today, it’s huge. Everything is a plus,” he said.

“I’m feeling great. The crowd was supporting me a lot.”

Tomic struggled to make inroads on Kamke’s serve until the German made four unforced errors while trying to close out the first set at 5-3.

The reprieve was invitation enough for Tomic to snatch the first set by peeling off five straight games.

He suffered a second-set lapse, though, again falling behind 4-1 before fighting back only to gift Kamke the tiebreaker.

But after crunching down 24 aces, including a bullet on match point, Tomic advanced after two hours and 49 minutes.

Tomic said his victory over Kohlschreiber in Sydney gave him added confidence.

“But it’s going to be difficult. He’s very smart and very good with the game,” he said.

“He controls it well with the rallies. For me, it’s tough to get in and attack a lot of his balls because he’s very smart.

“I have to find a strategy to play well against him and hopefully serve well.

“That’s most important for me.”

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