Matosevic to face Duckworth in Australian Open wildcard play-off semi-finals Tennis: Marinko Matosevic can talk the talk and the fiery Victorian is starting to walk the walk at the Australian Open wildcard play-offs. The seventh seed seemed at odds with himself and the world as he grunted, groaned and bellowed his way through a scratchy first round, five-set win on Monday but it was a different story in Wednesday's quarter-final where he swept aside third seed Luke Saville 6-3 6-2 6-2. The former world No.39 admitted he was rusty after a horror 2015 where he picked up a virus in Mexico, dealt with a foot stress fracture and a serious back injury. "I told you guys I just needed that one long match," a smiling Matosevic, pictured, said to reporters. 
"Match play -- that was the difference. When I'm playing matches regularly my level is high, so that was the difference. It came more naturally today -- I wasn't second-guessing myself. I can play better than that, obviously, but from the first match it was a much better performance." A couple of sessions with Todd Woodbridge, the 30-year-old's mentor since 2009, also helped iron out the kinks in his game.
Matosevic, ranked 296 in the world, set up a semi-final against top seed and world No.120 James Duckworth.