Bernard Tomic eyeing to add more aggressivness to his game

There were many questions surrounding Tomic’s fitness and preparation leading into the year’s first grand slam, but those fears were eased somewhat when the Queenslander toughed it out in a tight four-set win over the hard-working Victor Esrella Burgos on Wednesday night.

The British No 3 opted to head to the Hopman Cup as his first event, knowing six competitive matches would be guaranteed and endured three-successive losses to higher-ranked players along with doubles defeats alongside Heather Watson.

The final two sets were a tussle, with service breaks from both players, but Evans held his nerve to win.

“I’m happy with them at the minute”.

The last two to achieve that feat was Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski at Wimbledon. No issues, yeah. All of our matches have been pretty good mannered and stuff.

“It’s my ninth Australian Open”, Tomic said.

But Tomic, who had two set points on the Evans serve, could not take advantage, as the winner’s aggression paid off.

Evans enjoyed a promising 2016 season, in which he won three ATP Challenger titles and finished inside the Top 100 for the first time.

Barty, who needed a wildcard to enter the tournament after her ranking slid while she took a sabbatical to play cricket, showed plenty of courage to win the second set.

World No1 Andy Murray’s MUM then got involved in the exchange.

Evans next plays a former finalist here, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat the rising American Jack Sock 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-3. “I’m just dying to go again on Friday”. A lot of the times when I’ve been in the final here.

The Englishman had to contend with unruly behaviour from supporters of Tomic, whose attempts to unsettle him did not go to plan.

“I think we’re good friends”.

” I don’t have that much in my game so I have to stay in rallies a long time and try and frustrate people.”

“We’re so proud he’s got this far and he’s worked so hard to get where he is”.

While his rival struggled to find rhythm in cold conditions, Evans consistently fended off danger and kept his opponent guessing. “I don’t really know. I’ll see how it feels when I get up”.

Evans’ mother Bernadette, a nurse, rarely watches his matches. “It’s obviously a great win for him, the biggest of his career I’d imagine”.