Bernard Tomic has boosted Australia's French Open contingent to a dozen singles hopefuls with a gallant qualifying effort in Paris.
Tomic battled back from a service break down deep in the first set to beat Portugal's Goncalo Oliveira 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 on Friday to seal his place in the main draw.
Comeback trail: Bernard Tomic will take some strong form into the French Open.
Photo: AAP
He joins Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, Matt Ebden, Jordan Thompson, James Duckworth and Alex de Minaur in the men's main event starting on Sunday.
Tomic could conceivably play Kyrgios in the first round after the Australian No.1 and 21st seed drew a qualifier in the first round earlier on Friday.
Ashleigh Barty, Daria Gavrilova, Samantha Stosur, Ajla Tomljanovic and Isabelle Wallace will fly the Australian flag in the women's singles.
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Overlooked for wildcards at the Australian Open – where he bowed out in the final round of qualifying – and Roland Garros, the resurgent Tomic has earned his way into the draw the hard way.
Tennis figures feared the former junior prodigy was on a slippery slide to sporting oblivion when he went winless for four months this year to spiral outside the world's top 200.
But after recommitting to the sport following a fleeting appearance on reality TV program I'm A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, Tomic looks a man on a mission.
The one-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist and world No.17 has now won seven of his past eight matches – a career-best run on clay – and qualified in Paris without dropping a set.
Not that it was easy.
Oliviera served for the opening set at 5-4 and led 30-0 before Tomic rallied to break back and force a tie-breaker.
Tomic then trailed 5-2 in the breaker before digging deep to reel off five straight points to snatch the first set with a blistering backhand winner.
Urged on courtside by Serena Williams' coach Patrick Moratoglou and Tomic's father John, the Queenslander broke Oliveira in the 11th game of another tight second set before serving out the tense match.
The last time Tomic qualified for a grand slam came at Wimbledon in 2011, when the then-18-year-old went on to become the youngest men's quarter-finalist at the All England Club since Boris Becker 25 years earlier.
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