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Australia’s Marinko Matosevic begins his Wimbledon campaign tonight when he faces the 18th seed Fernando Verdasco. Join The Roar for lives scores and commentary from 8:00pm (AEST).
It is a match Marinko can win, but he will need to be at his best, in order to defeat the Spaniard.
Matosevic has been one of the form players in the grass season so far. He made the final of the first Nottingham Challenger, losing to Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets.
The Victorian followed that up with a quarter final appearance at Queens. Along the way in that tournament he defeated former top ten players in Marin Cilic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
His best can defeat Fernando Verdasco but his worst can see him eliminated at the first hurdle. The worst has usually come at Grand Slam level as Matosevic struggled recently to win at the highest level on the ATP.
Before the French Open, he had lost his last 12 matches in Grand Slam main draws. This changed at Roland Garros when he defeated Dustin Brown in four sets.
His celebration, when he rolled down the court, was one of the highlights of the tournament. He ended up losing to Andy Murray in the second round but it was a good Grand Slam event from the Australian.
How this win impacts him at further Grand Slam events is one of the big questions heading into tonight. Will he go into a shell, and go back to his performances before the win at Roland Garros? Or will it unleash the player that has made finals, and quarter finals, at ATP events and Masters Events respectively?
The match against Verdasco will put that to the ultimate test tonight. Verdasco has performed well at Wimbledon and made the quarter final last year.
He has also made the 4th round on three occasions at the All England club. It will be a stern test for Matosevic and he will need to be at his best to win.
Head to head the duo have faced each other twice before. Last year Matosevic defeated Verdasco in straight sets at Monte Carlo.
In 2011, Verdasco evened the ledger, with a straight sets win at Washington. If Matosevic is to win tonight then he will need to replicate what he did at Queens. His returning was among the best at the event and his net coverage was first class.
With Wimbledon, in some instances, still being a serve and volley event, it will be important for Matosevic to come to the net as much as he can.
If he does, he can surprise Verdasco, and win plenty of points. Making the Spaniard run will be critical in tonight’s match.
The serve of both players will be important as well. Matosevic’s second serve has been vulnerable in recent Grand Slam matches and it is something he will need to be strong at tonight.
Verdasco’s serve will also be crucial. Matosevic will be able to attack it if Verdasco struggles with it. At times during the last 12 months he has struggled with the serve.
Whoever serves more aces will more than likely win the match. It is shaping up to be one of the big Round 1 matches and this could easily go to five sets.
I think Matosevic can win the match tonight, and if he brings the form of Queens, then he is value to beat Verdasco. Marinko Matosevic to win in a five set epic.
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