Bernard Tomic sinks to embarrassing low as Aussie creates unwanted history in first final since 2018

Bernard Tomic has created another piece of unwanted history in his first ATP Challenger final since 2018 by losing the match in record time. The polarising Aussie tennis figure produced one of his best runs in recent years to reach the final in San Francisco only to end what was an otherwise successful week on a down note.

The seventh seed was no match for 18-year-old top seed Learner Tien in the final, with the American winning 6-0 6-1 in just 39 minutes. Following the match ATP Challenger officials verified the result as the quickest final in the history of the second-tier tour, coming in some four minutes faster than when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Dudi Sela at a 2019 event in Cassis, France.

Tomic was competitive enough early in the match but quickly began to let aces fly past him without putting in much effort to return the ball, leading to commentator Mike Cation exclaiming "Yikes" as Tien aced to take a 5-0 lead in the first. As Tomic served to start the sixth game, the commentator said: "We’re going to learn a little bit here. Well, maybe not. This could go in about 80 seconds". And his assessment wasn't far off with Tomic barely moving as the game consisted of a lazy forward into the net and three double faults in a game that lasted just 90 seconds.

Despite that, the commentator made note of the Aussie walking out for the second set "with a smile on his face". But Tomic provided barely a whimper of a challenge. "It feels like we just did the introductions," Cation said as the match drew to a close in under 40 minutes.

"That is A) Learner is that good but B) that is what happens at the end of the week when somebody who’s a veteran has put in that much effort through the week, that next level of keeping up on the pace side with a player of Learner Tien’s calibre. That’s going to be the question for Bernie moving forward here but a fantastic week, the first final in six years, since 2018. Certainly is a great step but the day belongs to Learner Tien."

After the match, the Aussie admitted that he struggled to mentally regain composure after being broken for the second time. “Once I lost the first two or three games, it was tough mentally staying on track,” Tomic said afterwards. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep up with my legs.” But the tennis world wasn't forgiving, slamming another lacklustre Tomic showing.

Bernard Tomic nears Australian Open qualifying cut-off

The 6-0 6-1 defeat was incredibly the same scoreline as his other historic defeat some 10 years ago - a 28-minute loss that went down as the fastest in ATP Tour history. Tomic has made several ITF-level finals since 2022 but this was his first appearance in a Challenger decider since winning a title in Mallorca in August 2018.

But despite the poor showing in the final, Tomic received 44 ranking points as a runner-up and now is in contention for a qualifying spot for the Australian Open. The Aussie is close to cracking the world’s top 200 for the first time since February 2020, a pivotal cut-off point to enter Melbourne Park qualifying.

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Tomic is expected to compete in another ATP Challenger tournament in Canada this week before potentially competing in two more events in the United States in late October and early November. A solid showing at those tournaments would go a long way to see him securing a spot at Melbourne Park.