Marinko Matosevic has continued his impressive grand slam resurgence, ousting 18th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the first round at Wimbledon.
Just a month after finally breaking his long-standing duck in major tournaments at the French Open, the Australian reached his second successive second round with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-2 win on Monday.
Successfully employing a serve-and-volley approach encouraged by his coach Mark Woodforde, the Australian world No.58 set up a meeting with either Frenchman Jeremy Chardy or British wildcard Daniel Cox.
Matosevic last month defeated German Dustin Brown at Roland Garros to notch up his first grand slam match win in 13 attempts.
He was easily accounted for by Andy Murray in the next round but spoke of being "freed" by the result and kicked on with an impressive run on grass, including wins over Jo Wilfried-Tsonga and Marin Cilic at Queen's Club.
That form, along with the fact he beat Verdasco on clay last year, had Matosevic upbeat about his chances of an upset at the All England Club, and he made a bright start.
The 28-year-old clinched the first break of the game to go 2-1 up, only to drop serve in the next game.
However Matosevic broke again to go 5-4 up and fended off three break points to serve out the set.
Verdasco edged a tight second set but Matosevic took the ascendancy in the third.
He fought back from 15-40 down to hold serve at 4-4, then broke to love in the next game before taking the set.
Carrying all the momentum and cheered on by a small smattering of Australian supporters, the `Mad Dog' raced to victory in convincing style in the fourth set.
Matosevic was the first Australian through to the second round in singles after Samantha Stosur lost in the first round to Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.
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