Bernard Tomic’s overall play has been underwhelming. He’s lost in the opening round against lower-ranked opponents in each of his previous four tournaments, including a straight-sets loss to Bjorn Fratangelo in Indian Wells last week (6-2, 6-2).
The talented Australian has dropped all the way to No. 44 in the ATP rankings as a result of his struggles and also, arguably, due to his lack of desire. That kind of mindset won’t do him or anybody else any good.
Tomic has never gone beyond the third round in the Miami Open, and he lost his only head-to-head duel with Mikhail Kukushkin back in 2012 at Nice.
Mikhail Kukushkin should be more than warmed up for this matchup. He’s coming off a pair of easy victories against Norbert Gombos (6-4, 6-1) and Peter Gojowczyk (retired) in the qualifying rounds.
His service game was locked-on in the match with Gombos, as Kukushkin won 62 percent of his first serve points and 79 percent of his second serve points. He also capitalized on three out of 10 breakpoint opportunities, while managing to protect his own serve all the way.
Kukushkin has won eight of his last 10 hardcourt matches.
Writer’s Prediction
Tomic (+125) regains a bit of his old from and wins this in straight sets (6-3, 6-4).
