James Duckworth in action during the 2015 Australian Open play-off tournament (image via theage.com.au)
Top Seed James Duckworth continued his quest for a place in the main draw of the Australian Open with a four-set win over former world No.39 Marinko Matosevic.
Duckworth is currently playing in the annual Australian wildcard play-off event. Sixteen players have battled against each other this week with the winner of the event, securing a position in next month’s Australian Open. Facing Matosevic in the last four, the world No.120 encountered an early scare when he dropped the first set to the 7th seed. Despite the early setback, Duckworth battled back to edge out Matosevic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (8).
Despite the disappointing loss, Matosevic can be happy with his performance in the draw after a troublesome year on the tour. After contracting a virus in Mexico earlier this year that affected him for a month, he suffered a stress fracture to his foot in May. The woes have resulted in the 30-year-old dropping to 296th in the world. Last year he ended his season at 75th. In the quarter-finals Matosevic defeated third seed Luke Saville in straight sets.
The victory in Australia is the first time that Duckworth has been able to defeat his Bosnian-born rival. Shortly after his win, Duckworth expressed his delight during an interview with Tennis Australia.
“I’m happy to get the win. It was a little bit tight, a little bit nerve-wracking at the end there but happy I got through,” he said.
“I actually felt pretty good physically, surprisingly after it being such a hot day. If it went to a fifth set I wasn’t feeling badly physically, so I think I could have kept going.
“I’ve been sort of patchy each match. Probably got better as the match went on. That’s sort of what happened in all my matches.
“I’d like to try and start a little better; probably my intensity in that first set wasn’t as good as those last few sets, so that’s one ofmy goals for Sunday.”
Benjamin Mitchell plays a forehand in his qualifying match against IIIya Marchenko at the 2015 Australian Open on January 14, 2015. (Source: Robert Prezios0/Zimbio.com)
The player standing in the way of Duckworth reaching his fifth consecutive Austrailian Open main draw is Ben Mitchell. The 23-year-old is currently ranked 233rd in the world and claimed his first Challenger title earlier this year in Canberra. Similar to Duckworth Mitchell experienced an early scare before defeating former junior doubles star Bradley Mousley 2-6,7-6 (3),7-6 (2),6-4.
Moseley reached the final at two Grand Slam doubles events in his junior career. He made the headlines in 2014 when he received a suspension from tennis for testing positive for ecstasy. His sentence was reduced when it was proven that he didn’t take the substance to improve his performance in the sport.
Duckworth has played Mitchell six times on the ATP Tour between 2009-2015 with the head-to-head standing at 3-3. Their most recent meeting was at the 2015 Burnie Challenger where Mitchell took the win 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. The two players are close friends on the tour and Duckworth has admitted that he wouldn’t be too disappointed about losing to his close friend.
“If I was to lose to anyone this week I’d love it to be Ben,” Duckworth said.
“I’d love for him to win the tournament as well. Either way I’ll be happy.”
The final between the two men will take place on Sunday and will be streamed live on the Tennis Australia website.