Tomic falls in 39 minutes, Sock loses 10th in a row

Bernard Tomic was up to his usual tricks at the New York Open on Monday, which–it goes without saying–is not a good thing.

Tomic lost to Go Soeda 6-2, 6-1 in the final round of qualifying for the 250-point indoor hard-court tournament. Although the world No. 191 managed to win three games, the match lasted a grand total of 39 minutes and 22 seconds. Tomic won a mere five return points the entire day.

The 27-year-old was coming off a hard-fought 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5) victory over Denis Istomin one day earlier. But despite the marathon scoreline, that match lasted only two hours–meaning Tomic should have been fine from a physical standpoint on Monday.

A quick exit is nothing new for the Australian, who holds the all-time record for shortest completed match at a Masters 1000 event. At the 2014 Miami Open, Tomic lost his first-round contest against Jarkko Nieminen 6-0, 6-1 in 28 minutes and 28 seconds.

During main-draw action on Monday in New York, Jack Sock’s losing streak (not counting Davis Cup) extended to 10 matches with a 6-3, 6-4 setback against Marcos Giron. Sock, who has dealt with various injuries, has not won a match since the 2018 Paris Masters.

In another all-American matchup, Steve Johnson outlasted Australian Open quarterfinalist Tennys Sandgren 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(3). Johnson won 82 percent of his first-serve points and withstood 14 aces off Sandgren’s racket.

“I just thought I played a couple good points (in the third set), down break point at 4-3, and then started off the tiebreak with a great return,” the world No. 75 noted. “A couple free points are always key in a tiebreak. Wins are wins; you take them when you get them and hopefully you string a bunch in a row. That’s my goal.”

Next up for Johnson is Andreas Seppi, who also prevailed in a third-set tiebreaker on Monday. The Italian outlasted Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(6).

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