Bernard Tomic and Radek Stepanek are looking to seal their place in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Brisbane International. The duo will meet for the fourth time in their careers in the second round at the Pat Rafter Arena (with possible court change) on Wednesday.

The seventh seed Australian passed the opening test against Nicolas Mahut in a little over an hour on Tuesday to book a meeting with the Czech veteran. Tomic, who is looking to get a top 16 Australian Open seeding, lost in all three previous encounters against Stepanek. He is 0-6 in total sets he played against Stepanek with their most recent meeting taking place in the Round of 32 of the 2014 Aegon Championships, 7-6(4) 7-6(5). He also lost to Stepanek twice in the claycourts of Madrid, 6-2 7-5 in 2012 and 6-3 6-2 in 2013.

Meanwhile, Stepanek opened his Brisbane campaign also on Tuesday against Dusan Lajovic of Serbia. The 37-year-old destroyed Lajovic in straight sets, 6-0 6-3 at the Pat Rafter Arena. Stepanek missed a number of tournaments last season due to injuries. Stepanek, ranked 81st on tour, compiled a 7-10 record on both ATP and Challenger circuits in 2015.

The winner will play either Japanese number two seed Kei Nshikori or Mikhail Kukushkin in the final eight. Nishikori earned a bye through to the second round while Kukushkin beat Denis Istomin, 6-2 7-5 on Tuesday.

Tomic is the last Aussie standing in the tournament. In the first round, Australians Benjamin Mitchell lost to Tobias Kamke 6-2 6-4, Sam Groth lost to Hyeon Chung 7-6(10) 6-4, John-Patrick Smith lost to Denis Kudla 4-6 6-3 6-4, James Duckworth lost to Dominic Thiem 3-6 6-4 6-3, and Oliver Anderson was defeated by Ivan Dodig 6-3 6-2.

Visit Brisbaneinternational.com.au for more information.

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