Bernard Tomic stormed into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a 6-1 7-5
6-4 victory over Belgian Xavier Malisse on a hot London Monday.
The
Australian teenager’s round of 16 win in only an hour and 21 minutes
set up a possible quarter-final against world No.2 and sometime hitting
partner Novak Djokovic.
The Serbian Australian Open champion will meet Frenchman Michael Llodra for a spot in the final eight later on Monday.
Tomic
produced some breath-taking tennis on the back of another superb
serving performance and the European was regularly showing his
frustration throughout the match.
Tomic is only the fifth qualifier to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon during the Open era.
The 18-year-old made just eight unforced errors for the match and his ranking is set to lift to around 72 following the win.
In baking heat by British standards, all the public seats at court 18 had been filled more than an hour before the match.
The showcourt has a capacity of just under 800 but there were plenty more catching a peek from any vantage point possible.
There
were some leaning over fences, some looking through cracks in the fence
while the rooftop of the broadcast centre proved very popular.
And with all due respect to 2002 Wimbledon semi-finalist Malisse, not many had come to watch him.
In nearly identical style to his win over Robin Soderling, Tomic raced through the first set this time winning it in 21 minutes.
Unseeded
Malisse spent a large chunk of the first set complaining about line
calls and the incorrect tension being set on his racquets.
“Maybe the stringer is Australian,” the Belgian said in jest to the chair umpire at one point.
There
was almost a hush at times in the first set as Tomic marched through
the games before Malisse showed a bit more resistance in the second set.
Still
the European wobbled a bit on serve in the tenth game and Tomic pounced
to grab the break and claim a two-set lead just over the hour mark.
Malisse was furious with dropping the second set, belting his racquet against his foot four times and bending it out of shape.
Tomic grabbed an early break for a 2-0 lead in the third set before dropping his first service game.
Malisse
had some of his racquets re-strung during the match but by the time
they arrived in the third set and Tomic was on a roll.