Bernard Tomic has shown some Lleyton Hewitt grit and has the chance to join Australia’s former world No.1 as a winner of the Apia International in Sydney.
Tomic overcame heat stress in 40C on-court temperatures to advance to his maiden ATP final with a fighting 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 win over Italian third seed Andreas Seppi.
Victory over the world No.23 was Tomic’s seventh straight win of his unbeaten summer and earned the Queenslander a crack at big-serving South African Kevin Anderson in Saturday’s twilight final at Olympic Park.
Much is at stake for Tomic.
As well as regaining the national No.1 ranking from Marinko Matosevic, his first-round victim this week, Tomic can join two of the legends of the game in the history books.
If he beats the unseeded Anderson, Tomic will become the first Australian winner in Sydney since Hewitt in 2005 and the first 20-year-old to hoist the trophy since the great Roger Federer in 2002.
Tomic certainly displayed some of Hewitt’s fighting spirit to get to the final.
After calling for the ATP trainer while leading 5-4 in the opening set, Tomic complained of dizziness and then had to fend off six break points – or mini set points – at 5-all.
Tomic then saved four set points in the tiebreaker before snatching it when Seppi dumped a forehand into the net after 55 minutes.
Seppi, who led Novak Djokovic by two sets to love at last year’s French Open, was also the first to falter in the second set.
He dropped serve in the ninth game to give Tomic a 5-4 advantage and the Australian had no trouble closing out the match after one hour, 23 minutes.
Earlier, Anderson denied Frenchman Julien Benneteau in a three-set cliffhanger to make the final.
Anderson saved two match points before prevailing 3-6 6-4 7-6 (10-8) to become the first South African to make the Sydney final in 45 years of open-era tennis.