Wimbledon 2014: Mrinko Matosevic makes amends for comments with win over Fernando Verdasco

In recent weeks Marinko Matosevic has attracted more attention with his post-match comments than he ever did on the tennis court, but the 28-year-old Australian made amends here with his 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.

It was Matosevic’s verdict on women’s tennis that drew the attention of the world’s media when he played in the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club recently.

During a discussion about Amelie Mauresmo’s appointment as Andy Murray’s coach, Matosevic said that he could not appoint a female coach “since I don’t think that highly of the women's game”.

On the latest evidence Matosevic and his coach, Mark Woodforde, are doing just fine. As the world No 58 Matosevic is the second highest-ranked Australian behind Lleyton Hewitt, though it has taken him time to make his mark at this level. Until he beat Dustin Brown at the French Open last month Matosevic had lost in the first round on all 12 of his Grand Slam appearances.

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“He's big on playing attacking tennis,” Matosevic said when asked about Woodforde. “He really focused on this grass-court season. On hard courts it will be tougher to do, but playing to win on grass-court tennis is paying off so far.”

The win over Verdasco was arguably Matosevic’s best yet. Verdasco went closer to beating Andy Murray than anyone else here last year, going two sets up before losing their quarter-final. The 30-year-old world No 24, who reached his highest position at No 7 five years ago, has made something of a comeback in the last 12 months, but this was only the second time in the last 11 years that he has fallen in the first round.