Bernard Tomic has claimed bragging rights with victory over Australian No.1 Marinko Matosevic at the Sydney International.
Tomic reigned 6-3 6-4 in the much-hyped clash of the Davis Cup outcasts to continue his impressive unbeaten start to the summer.
Apart from being able to seize back his Australian top ranking if he goes on to win the tournament, Tomic's immediate reward is a second-round shot at redemption against Florian Mayer on Wednesday.
Mayer clubbed Tomic in straight sets in Australia's Davis Cup World Group playoff loss in Hamburg last September.
It was during that drubbing that Tomic and Cup coach Tony Roche were involved in an animated courtside exchange - all in front of unimpressed captain Pat Rafter.
Rafter had already dumped Matosevic for the Hamburg tie because of his poor attitude earlier last year and took similar disciplinary action action Tomic, suspending the youngster from next month's Cup tie in Taiwan.
But after upstaging world No.1 Novak Djokovic in one of three eye-catching wins in Perth last week, Tomic looks back on track and may prompt a re-think from Rafter if he continues his run in Sydney and at the Australian Open starting on Monday in Melbourne.
By the time Tomic and Matosevic hit the court for their twilight showdown, temperatures had dipped somewhat from the scorching 41 degrees of earlier on Monday.
The heat was still very much on both players, with pride and the national top ranking on the line at Ken Rosewall Arena.
Tomic made an immediate statement with a big ace down the middle on his opening serve of the match.
The 64th-ranked Tomic had the unheralded world No.49 under the pump as early as the fourth game.
After saving three break points, Matosevic eventually succumbed to the pressure to give Tomic a 3-1 advantage.
It was enough to secure Tomic the opening set.
Tomic claimed the only break of the second set in the fifth game and closed out the contest on his first match point.
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