Australian youngster Bernard Tomic clinched his first ATP Tour title with a fighting win over South African Kevin Anderson in the final of the Sydney International on Saturday.
Tomic claimed his eighth straight win of the year in downing the 36th-ranked Anderson 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3 in one
hour and 55 minutes. Tomic is the first Australian winner of the Sydney tournament since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 and the first 20-year-old event winner since Roger Federer in 2002.
He will head into Monday's Australian Open with his ranking down to around 43 and with a chance of facing the 17-time Grand Slam champion and second seed Federer in the third round in Melbourne. Tomic began confidently breaking Anderson's opening service game and held a further break point in the sixth game before wrapping up the set in 28 minutes. But he encountered stiffer opposition from Anderson, fighting off a break point on serve in the eighth game before taking to a tiebreaker. Anderson also had the ascendancy in the tiebreaker with two mini-breaks to level the final at a set all.