Putting behind an appalling clay-court season, Bernard Tomic made a triumphant start to the grass swing as he pulled off a straight-set win over Aljaz Bedene at the Ricoh Open in s-Hertogenbosch on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Australian needed just 70 minutes to cruise for a routine 6-4 6-3 conquest of his unseeded opponent from Britain, as he sealed his berth in the last-eight stage of the ATP 250 event here in the Netherlands.
Awaiting him in the quarter-finals will be eighth seed Nicolas Mahut of France, who rallied from a set down to edge compatriot Paul-Henri Mathieu 4-6 6-1 6-4. Interestingly, this was his first win over the same opponent in three meetings.
Elsewhere, fifth seed Sam Querrey took just 57 minutes to topple Japan’s Tatsuma Ito en route the quarters. The American produced a fine performance on serve as he fired 12 aces and consolidated his serve throughout to emerge the better of the two.
196th-ranked American teenager Stefan Kozlov – playing in his maiden recognized tournament on the ATP tour – also made the cut to next round after recording a stunning win over fourth seed Steve Johnson 6-3 6-4.
