Australian tennis battler Marinko Matosevic has reached his maiden ATP Tour final in Florida.
The 26-year-old qualifier scored a 5-7 6-4 7-6 (9-7) semi-final victory on Saturday over Israeli Dudi Sela at the Delray Beach International.
Riding a 12-match hot streak after also winning a Challenger event in Queensland last month, Matosevic will face big-serving South African Kevin Anderson in Sunday’s final (Monday AEDT).
Anderson upset American top seed John Isner 7-5 7-6 (7-4) in the second semi-final.
Matosevic has won seven matches this week after surviving three qualifying rounds just to make the main draw of the $US442,500 ($A410,000) tournament.
Win or lose the final, the Victorian is guaranteed the biggest cheque of his career – at least $US39,000 ($A36,250) for reaching the title match.
Matosevic will also enjoy big rankings jump from his current standing at No.173 in the world.
It was a nervy finish for Matosevic who was broken when serving for the match and also double-faulted on match-point in the tie-break but he held his nerve to eventually triumph.