The headlights of the red Porsche parked in the corner of the court were facing Kevin Anderson as he split-stepped near net turning the front court into a no passing zone. The lanky South African bent low to scrape a backhand volley off the court, read the direction of Marinko Matosevic's pass as clearly as a motorist scanning a license plate and angled a backhand volley winner into the open court to earn match points.
Contesting his first ATP final, 173rd-ranked qualifier Matosevic tested the seventh seed with challenging questions, but Anderson delivered the answers playing a commanding tie breaker to seal a 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory in the Delray Beach final today.
The 36th-ranked Anderson collected his second ATP title 13 months after winning his first in his hometown of Johannesburg. The win capped a week in which the 6'8" Anderson defused two of tennis' most explosive servers to reach his third final. He fought off three match points to rally past Andy Roddick 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 in the quarterfinals then matched John Isner's 16-ace outburst in toppling the top seed last night. The three-time all American at the University of Illinois was perceived as the underdog in those matches and showed signs of early pressure he felt against Bosnian-born, Aussie Matosevic, who has worked hard to refine the rough edges of his game and entered this final riding a career-best 12-match winning streak.
Nerves were as clear as the biting breeze that caused flags to flap frantically at the top of the stadium as five straight breaks opened the match before Anderson restored serving order holding at 15 for 4-2. Matosevic, who has a bit of the Thomas Enqvist ability to generate tremendous forehand power from a short backswing, saved a pair of break points to hold for the first time for 3-4. Three games later, Anderson unleashed an ace and used a stinging first serve to seal the set.
Matosevic had not won back-to-back ATP main draw matches until this week, but showed why he can be such a dangerous — and streaky player — as he hugged the baseline in taking Anderson's first serve early, winning eight of 17 points played on the power merchant's first delivery in the opening set. Unfortunately for Matosevic, Anderson was taking his share of rips on the return: He won 12 of 21 points played on Matosevic's first serve in the first set.
Both men settled down and Matosevic, who battled cramps and nerves in squandering four match points before edging Dudi Sela in the semis, showed stubborn will again in saving all eight break points he faced in the second set, including three in the third game and three more in the seventh game when he threw up his arms exhorting the fans to make some noise. Anderson did not face a break point on serve in the second set, permmitting just four points on his first serve.
Emotionally, Anderson is much more self-contained and played with poise in the breaker, exploiting three consecutive Matosevic errors before repelling those rapid-fire volleys and wrapping up a one hour, 58-minute win.
—Richard Pagliaro