G’DAY MATE: TOMIC, KOKKINAKIS DAZZLE IN THE DESERT EN ROUTE TO ALL-AUSSIE CLASH BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 17th March 2015

G'DAY MATE: TOMIC, KOKKINAKIS DAZZLE IN THE DESERT EN ROUTE TO ALL-AUSSIE CLASH BY RICKY DIMON

epa04665455 Bernard Tomic of Australia in action against David Ferrer of Spain during their third round match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 16 March 2015. EPA/MICHAEL NELSON |

Had it not been for an untimely foot injury sustained by Nick Kyrgios, the Australian youth invasion that is beginning to take the tennis world by storm could have reached an even grander scale at the BNP Paribas Open. Even with Kyrgios unable to finish off a potential upset of Grigor Dimitrov, however, the Aussies are still making waves.

Bernard Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis are through to the fourth round and will battle each other for a quarterfinal spot on Wednesday.

Kokkinakis’ run has been especially improbable. The 18-year-old did not even have direct entry in the main draw until Juan Martin Del Potro withdrew and the Argentine’s wild card went to Kokkinakis.

Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia in action during his first round match against Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 12 March 2015. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO

To say Kokkinakis has made the most of the opportunity would be an understatement. After beating Jan-Lennard Struff in two sets, he outlasted in-form opponents Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Juan Monaco both in three (including a third-set tiebreaker against Monaco). Despite being robbed of match point on a bad line call (Kokkinakis had no challenges remaining) earlier in the deciding frame of play, he recovered to take the ‘breaker 7-5.

“I think that’s one of my big strengths, how I deal with things mentally in matches,” Kokkinakis explained. “I have shown I can get through a lot of tough, tight ones, even when I’m not playing my best tennis, which is a huge thing for me. I don’t know if this is my breakthrough, but I’ve definitely got some momentum.”

Tomic already had ton of momentum prior to this fortnight. The world No. 35 has reached at least the quarterfinals in five events already this season, made it to round four of the Australian Open, and led Australia to a Davis Cup victory over the Czech Republic. So far in Indian Wells he has defeated Borna Coric and David Ferrer in straight sets.

The only previous meeting between Tomic and Kokkinakis came earlier this year in Brisbane, where the 22-year-old advanced 7-6(2), 6-1.

As for Kyrgios, the Australian Open quarterfinalist opened with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Denis Kudla then served for the match against Dimitrov at 5-4 in the third but had injured his foot on the previous game’s break point. A hobbled Kyrgios could not close the deal and eventually fell in a final-set tiebreaker.

“Obviously we have good futures, all of us,” Kokkinakis concluded. “We have definitely a real positive Davis Cup team to build around in the future. We will keep working hard and see how good we can be.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Aussie, Bernard Tomic, BNP Paribas Open, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Indian Wells, Nick Kyrgios, Ricky Dimon, Tennis News, Thanasi Kokkinakis

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10sBalls_com says:

March 17, 2015 at 3:01 pm

G’DAY MATE: TOMIC, @TKokkinakis DAZZLE IN THE DESERT EN ROUTE TO ALL-AUSSIE CLASH BY @Dimonator- http://t.co/o3vSIDbnbj #BNPPO15 #tennis
Dimonator says:

March 17, 2015 at 5:39 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: G’DAY MATE: TOMIC, @TKokkinakis DAZZLE IN THE DESERT EN ROUTE TO ALL-AUSSIE CLASH BY @Dimonator- http://t.co/o3vSIDbnbj …