Kyrgios and Tomic to face off in French Open first round
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Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios will clash for the first time in a French Open first-round show-stopper in Paris.
Tomic boosted Australia's contingent to a dozen singles hopefuls with a gallant qualifying effort at Roland Garros before being pitted against his former Davis Cup teammate.
The one-time grand slam doubles partners will carry contrasting form into Monday's encounter.
The resurgent Tomic is riding a career-best seven-match clay-court winning streak, while Kyrgios — the tournament's 21st seed — has not played singles in six weeks due to a chronic elbow injury.
But the two-time grand slam quarter-finalist is growing in confidence in his battered body after advancing to the doubles final in Lyon with American Jack Sock.
Tomic, meanwhile, battled back from a service break down deep in the first set to beat Portugal's Goncalo Oliveira 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 on Friday to seal his place in the French Open's main draw.
He joins Aussies Kyrgios, John Millman, Matt Ebden, Jordan Thompson, James Duckworth and Alex de Minaur in the men's main event starting on Sunday.
Ashleigh Barty, Daria Gavrilova, Samantha Stosur, Ajla Tomljanovic and Isabelle Wallace will fly the Australian flag in the women's singles.
Tomic on path back to best
Overlooked for wildcards at the Australian Open — where he bowed out in the final round of qualifying — and Roland Garros, an inspired Tomic has earned his way into the draw the hard way.
Tennis figures feared the former junior prodigy was on a slippery slide to sporting oblivion when he went winless for four months this year to spiral outside the world's top 200.
But after recommitting to the sport following a fleeting appearance on reality TV, Tomic looks a man on a mission.
The one-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist and world No.17 is unbeaten on his least preferred surface in seven matches and qualified in Paris without dropping a set.
Not that it was easy.
Oliviera served for the opening set at 5-4 and was 30-0 before Tomic rallied to break back and force a tiebreaker.
Tomic then trailed 5-2 in the breaker before digging deep to reel off five straight points to snatch the first set with a blistering backhand winner.
Urged on courtside by Serena Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Tomic's father John, the Queenslander broke Oliveira in the 11th game of another tight second set before serving out the tense match.
The last time Tomic qualified for a grand slam came at Wimbledon in 2011, when the then-18-year-old went on to become the youngest men's quarter-finalist at the All England Club since Boris Becker 25 years earlier.
AAP
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