Aussie Matosevic earns clay test against Nadal
Australian Marinko Matosevic faces the toughest ask in tennis after
winning his first match on clay in almost a year to open with a 7-5, 6-3
success over Fernando Verdasco at the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday.
But the number 54 won't have time to celebrate an upset of Spain's
former ace.
Instead, he will become just the first obstacle placed in the path of
Rafael Nadal as the king of clay begins a bid for an unprecedented ninth
straight championship at the Country Club overlooking the Mediterranean.
Matosevic sprang a surprise on Verdasco, the one-time clay powerhouse
and 2010 runner-up here to Nadal, going through to the second round in a
struggle as his Spanish opponent fought back at the end in the one-hour,
51-minute contest. Matosevic saved nine of the dozen break points he
faced while breaking the 31st-ranked Verdasco on five occasions.
The Australian last won a clay match in the first round of French
Open qualifying last May after earning his last ATP win on the surface
in Munich a few weeks earlier.
Nadal takes a fearsome 42-match win streak in Monte Carlo into his
second-round opener after a bye. The 11-time grand slam champion last
lost in the principality as a teenager in 2003 to Guillermo Coria.
Top seed Novak Djokovic was preparing to decide if he will be fit
enough on his rolled ankle to make his start on Wednesday, when Nadal
and Matosevic also clash.
AFP
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