Bernard Tomic played the fastest match of his senior career to reach the Brisbane International quarter-finals against an opponent who is yet to complete two full sets.
Fatigue should not be an issue, and the fact that Tomic is not just fit, but healthy, makes him unique among Denis Istomin's new year opponents.
Istomin, 25, has seen off Florian Mayer, who retired with a groin injury at 2-2 in the second set of their opening match, and veteran Tommy Haas, whose calf strain handed Istomin a walkover in round two. Which makes the world No73 from Uzbekistan a quarter-finalist for the sixth time in his ATP career after playing just 18 games.
''I told bad luck, for sure, [to] both of them,'' Istomin, 25, said. ''And I hope so Bernard is in good shape, so finally I play some matches.''
Tomic looked like he was in excellent shape, the best of his short but flourishing career. He has strengthened his spindly teenage body by several kilos of muscle, and has grown only one centimetre or so in the last year - one final centimetre, he hopes - to stand at 195cm.
''I'm moving a lot better and I'm playing a lot more tennis and hitting a lot more balls,'' Tomic said.
''When you get that I think you learn to move better, and I've been training a lot harder the last season so I think that's paying off.
''That's why I'm strong and serving much better.''
The Wimbledon quarter-finalist recovered from a third set service break to beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the first round, then monstered hapless Japanese qualifier Tatsuma Ito 6-1, 6-2 in just 44 minutes on Wednesday night.
The least experienced man in the world's top 50 is already the No1 in Australia by some margin.
''He's a great player, a great guy,'' Istomin said.
''I watch a couple of matches, he's ... very difficult to play against him.
''He's young, good motivation ... I will to do my best to show good tennis. He's good moving on the court, good serve.''
It will be the pair's first career meeting.
''I've seen him around a lot, though,'' Tomic said.
''I know he can play good and beat a lot of good quality players on his day. I know he hasn't played a full match yet, but he'll be resting and preparing for the next round and I think he'll be ready to go.
''I've got the confidence now, and having won the first round here in Brisbane gave me a lot of boost.
''Now I think it's open to everybody left in the draw, and I think that I can play really well and win the next round.''
The winner will play either Marcos Baghdatis or world No4 Andy Murray in the semis, Murray again dropping the first set to a far lower-ranked opponent before beating unseeded Gilles Muller in a less anguished second outing.
French second seed Gilles Simon was the first man through to the last four, eliminating Santiago Giraldo 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 yesterday.
.gif)
