Tomic tops Anderson in Sydney for first title

Sydney, Australia – Australia's Bernard Tomic captured his first ATP World Tour title Saturday with a three-set win over South Africa's Kevin Anderson in the final of the Sydney International.

Tomic earned a 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3 triumph in his first title match and became the first Australian to win in Sydney since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005.

"It's an amazing feeling," said Tomic. "Now I know what it feels like to win a tournament and it's the best feeling in the world. I'm so happy I won. To do it here in Sydney is awesome. I can't ask for anything better."

Tomic dominated the first set, winning 20 of the 27 points on his serve and earning the lone break. Anderson had the only break chance in the second set, but failed to convert and won 29 of the 31 points on his serve, capturing the tiebreak thanks to a trio of unforced errors from Tomic.

The lone break of the third set came in the eighth game, with the help of a double fault from Anderson, and it gave Tomic a 5-3 lead. He then closed it out on serve in the next game.

"I was lucky I got that double fault in the third set because anything could have happened after that," said Tomic. "I served pretty good, but he was serving outstanding. Third set was epic. I think under pressure I played really good tennis."

The 20-year-old Tomic will try to continue his strong play next week at the Australian Open. He will face Leonardo Mayer in the first round and could meet Roger Federer in the third round. Federer knocked Tomic out in the fourth round last year in Melbourne.

"I'm so excited. I'm looking forward to Melbourne," added Tomic. "I feel unstoppable. I feel like I'm playing great tennis. It's amazing stepping on court. You're so confident. That's going to be taken down to Melbourne and I'm going to use that for every match I play there."

Anderson fell to 2-2 in finals and 0-2 lifetime against Tomic. He'll open with Paolo Lorenzi next week in Melbourne.