Tennis: Aussie qualifier Matosevic reaches Delray final

DELRAY BEACH, Florida: Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic reached the final of the ATP's Delray Beach International on Saturday with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) victory over Israel's Dudi Sela.

Matosevic, ranked 173rd in the world, was appearing in his first career ATP tour semi-final and became the first qualifier to reach the final at Delray Beach since Evgeny Korolev, who was runner-up to Mardy Fish in 2009.

Sela was playing his first ATP semi-final since Chennai in January of 2010 but couldn't book his second career final.

Matosevic, 26, jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the final set, but failed to convert two match points as he served for the match at 5-3. Sela broke him, then held to knot the set and they went to the tiebreaker.

Matosevic again seized the advantage, taking a 3-0 lead, but he wasted two more match points in the tiebreaker before finally closing it out after two hours and 54 minutes.

Matosevic awaits the winner of the evening semi-final between top seed John Isner of the United States and South African seventh seed Kevin Anderson.

The last qualifier to win an ATP title was Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in Sydney in January. (AFP)