Memphis - Darian King of Barbados won his opening match at
the Memphis Open, surprising fifth seeded Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-4 to become the
first player from his country to win an ATP Tour match.
This was uncharted territory for King who is also the first
player from Barbados in the 41-year history of the tournament.
King, who had to go through the qualifying rounds to get
into the tournament, is making just his second appearance in the main draw of
an ATP Tour event.
He hammered four aces, won 75 percent of his second-serve
points and had no double faults in Tuesday's 66 minute match between the two
24-year olds.
King, who is ranked 140th in the world, said it was a
"dream come true."
"Playing against Bernard, the No 5 seed is a dream come
true," King said.
"The discipline in Barbados is not as big so to come
from there and compete against these guys, it's a lot of progress. I'm glad to
get my first ATP win.
"I played at least three years in Futures against
college guys and Americans then basically had my first breakthrough in Cali,
Colombia, in a Challenger against former top 50 player Victor Estrella
[Burgos]. Then I realized I can play."
King booked a second round match against Steve Darcis of
Belgium who beat Radu Albot 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
During his only other main draw appearance, at the 2015 Washington ATP event, King lost in the first round.
Australia's Tomic had one double fault and won just half of
his second serve points.
Earlier this year, Tomic reached the third round of the
Australian Open and the quarter-finals of this event two years ago.
In other first round matches on Tuesday, Tomic's fellow Aussie Matthew Ebden rallied to beat Canadian qualifier Peter Polansky 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-1 and American Ryan Harrison eased past Russian Konstantin Kravchuk 6-3, 7-5.