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Anderson bests Matosevic to win the Delray Beach ITC

Kevin Anderson tracks down a shot in his match with Marinko Matosevic Sunday at the Delray Beach ITC.

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Hail the new champion. Kevin Anderson powered passed Marinko Matosevic 6-4, 7-6 Sunday afternoon to win the singles competition of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

It was Anderson’s second ATP championship and the first in the U.S. for the South African, who attended the University of Illinois. His take for the week’s work: $75,780. The win should boost his world ranking to 30 or 31 from 36.

For Matosevic, it was his first experience in an ATP tournament final. He had to win three matches in the qualifying draw, then three more in the main draw just to get to the finals. He is only the second player in the 20-year history of the Delray tournament to work his way through the qualifiers to the final. That performance signaled Anderson that this would be no easy match.

“I knew I had to take it from him,” Anderson said. “I knew he wasn’t going to roll over. He played very good tennis in the second set, definitely.”

Both players got off to a nervous start in first set, but in the second, Matosevic matched Anderson shot for shot. But down 5-6 and serving, Anderson in the words of Matosevic “came up with four big bombs.”

In the tiebreaker, Anderson used his powerful serve to pull away from Matosevic.

Matosevic came into the match ranked 178 in the world. Working his way through six matches to get to Sunday’s final took a toll. Little sleep the night before, didn’t help either. He said was too wired to sleep before 1 a.m., then woke up at 5:30.

“My energy level was low,” Matosevic said. “I took a caffeine. I drank Pepsi … nothing would work for me. I felt I was a few points from turning the match but I just couldn’t do it.

“Congratulations to Kevin. He did what he had to do. I learned a lot today.”

Anderson said Matosevic is playing well enough to be ranked in the top 100.

That’s Matosevic’s goal, of course, and as if to underline it, he’s refused to sign autographs until he gets there. He did make an exception. “There was some poor kid who looked like he really wanted an autograph.”

The third-seeded British team of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins defeated Michal Mertinak of Slovakia and Brazilian Andre Sa 2-6, 7-6(5), 15-13 in the doubles finale.

Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins of Great Britain defeated Michal Mertinak of Slovakia and Brazilian Andre Sa in the finals of the doubles competition at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.