By ROY WARD
DANDENONG tennis export Marinko Matosevic enjoyed the finest tournament of his fledgling career at the ATP Delray Beach tennis championships in Florida, United States, on the weekend.
After winning into the event via qualifying, the then 173rd ranked player made the tournament final, earning his best ever achievement in an ATP event.
While Matosevic lost the final 6-4, 7-6 to seventh-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, he became just the fifth player to make the Delray Beach final from qualifying.
Matosevic, 26, told the Weekly late last year he was desperate to climb into the top-100 players in the world this year so to avoid the gruelling extra games he was playing each week to qualify for ATP tournaments.
His achievements in Florida rocketed his ranking to a career high 129 in the world and earned him $US39,900.
