Tomic’s victory comes after the 22-year-old was suspended from Australia’s Davis Cup quarter-final win over Kazakhstan in Darwin for savaging Tennis Australia bosses and then being arrested 10 days ago in Miami following a hotel party.
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Mannarino earned a chance to win his first ATP title by beating Croatian top seed Ivo Karlovic – who Tomic defeated to claim the title last year – 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5).
Australian Bernard Tomic showed no signs of being distracted by his off-court troubles as he beat Tatsuma Ito at the Colombian Open.
Wildcard Stepanek will face Karlovic for the first time since their semi-final clash 12 months earlier, after the Czech ousted sixth seed Sam Groth 6-4 6-0.
Bernard Tomic let his tennis do the talking on Sunday as the Australian defended his Claro Open crown with a 6-1 3-6 6-2 victory over Adrian Mannarino.
Karlovic, ranked 23rd, served 17 aces and did not allow a break point against Mannarino but struggled in both tie-breakers.
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But he had to fight hard against Mannarino, who fought back to take the second set and threatened to go on with the job in the deciding set.
