Marinko Matosevic ousts Amer Delic; moves to the main draws – Legg Mason Tennis Classic 2011
Second seed Australian Marinko Matosevic scored a convincing two set 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over his eight seed opponent Bosnian Amer Delic to secure a place in the main draws of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, Washington
D.C.
The event has secured a prestigious status as an Olympus US Open Series tournament, with top players using it as practicing grounds before play begins at the Flushing Meadows. Australians dominated the qualifying finals
on Sunday, with top seed Matthew Ebden and sixth seed Chris Guccione joining Matosevic in the main draws.
The 25-year-old Australian came into the tournament with a win loss mark of 1-7 and proceeded to the final qualifying round by defeating American Michael Shabaz in opening match at the tournament. He had a flamboyant start
to the year, recording his career highest 131st ranking in March but progress has slowed down since then. He recently qualified to the main draws at Atlanta, managing to reach the second round where he was unceremoniously ousted
by Taiwan’s Yen-Hsu Lu. At Los Angeles Matosevic failed to move past the qualifying round.
Currently at No. 242, the Bosnian Delic has been active mostly on the Challenger circuit. His win-loss mark currently stands at a decent 3-1 mark, depicting his inactivity on the ATP tour circuit. However the player has
yet to qualify even once for the main draws of a tournament this year. Delic had defeated American Henry Steer in his opening round match at the qualifying singles at Washington D.C.
The first set saw streaks of skill by the eventual loser Delic, who fought hard to remain within close range of his opponent. Both the players served at 63%, with Delic surprisingly winning 83% of his points compared to
Matosevic’s 67%. The first set witnessed a total of 48 points in Matosevic’s account against the 46 total points gained by Delic. The closely contested set had to be decided by a tie break, with Matosevic powering ahead with 7 points against Delic’s 5.
The second set witnessed a more exciting display of skill by the Australian, who seemed more confident following his win in the first set. Serving at 59%, Matosevic won 18 of his 22 serve points and managed to save all
4 of his break of serve scenarios. Matosevic broke Delic’s serve in the 7th game of the set to leave the Bosnian struggling to catch up. The Aussie swiftly sealed the second set with a resounding 6-4 win.
Matosevic will play his opening round match in the main draws of the tournament against former World No. 73 Richard Berankis of Lithuania. Berankis had lost his last match 7-6(4), 5-7, 3-6, in
the first round at Los Angeles to American Ryan Harrison.
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