You remember Matija Pecotic, the 34 year old part-time journeyman who miraculously got into Delray Beach qualies and won two matches vs. Stefan Kozlov and Tennys Sandgren and then upset Jack Sock in three sets 4-6 6-2 6-2 in the main draw while ranked 784?
Well the determined veteran is at it again in Toronto. “I flew to Toronto late last night with a one percent chance of getting into the Masters Series. I didn’t get into the qualifying tournament at the signing yesterday, nor at the signing this morning, much like Delray Beach. During the day, one guy pulled out but there was one guy ahead of me on the list, so he got in. At that point, everyone who was supposed to play was here and warming up for their matches. I was literally eating an ice cream and loading my bags into the car to go to the airport, WHEN…”
“A guy pulled out nine minutes before the start of his match!”
“My phone started ringing and I was called to the supervisor’s room. I got drawn to play Ivashka from Belarus. My adrenaline was so high that I won the first nine points of the match, hitting winners and aces, and took the first set 6-2. The second set was a little tougher but I won the tiebreak 7-3. It was my first Masters win ever. I’m playing Matteo Arnaldi, world no. 65, tomorrow (today) at 2 pm for a place in the main draw.”
The persevering lefthander from Serbia has improved his ranking over 300 places since his February adventure in Delray Beach and is currently 435 in the world. His last tournament in the last week in July was in Salinas, Ecuador Challenger and Pecotic qualified and then reached the final, a 4-6 4-6 defeat to Illya Marchenko. Pecotic won six matches in Salinas.
So the wonderful, wacky ATP career of the wondrous underdog Matija Pecotic continues to roll on… and creating momentous anecdotes and adventures.
Canadian Open · Matija Pecotic · Serbia · Toronto
Scoop Malinowski · August 7, 2023 at 11:12 am
Pecotic lost to Arnaldi 6464.