Bernard Tomic has advanced to the second round of the China Open with a hard-fought straight-sets win over local crowd favourite Zhang Ze in Beijing.
The Australian powered to a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 victory over China’s world No.193 on Monday in the first match of the ATP tournament.
Tomic began slowly and was forced to save two set points as he clawed his way back from 5-3 down.
Zhang took a 2-0 lead in the tie-breaker, but Tomic bounced back again to seal the opening set.
The 20-year-old then broke Zhang’s serve early in the second set and eased .
Coming off an emphatic loss to Gilles Simon in the second round of the Thailand Open last week, Tomic booked a berth in the next round against fifth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet or German Florian Mayer.
Lleyton Hewitt will start his campaign against Tommy Haas on Monday night while fellow Australian Marinko Matosevic will face Julien Benneteau in his opening-round clash.