Pecotic, world No. 734, stuns Sock in Delray Beach

Pecotic, a former NCAA tennis player at Princeton and later a graduate of Harvard Business School, has spent several years on the contender circuit, reaching a career-high ranking of 206 in 2015. But abdominal surgery and subsequent complications slowed her career. progressed through the tour and eventually led to his decision to focus his career in finance.

Maybe we should ask the public. Should I give it another go on tour?

Matija Pecotic to the audience in Delray Beach

Finance by day, tennis by night

However, the change in career path did not kill Pecotic’s passion for the sport.

At Harvard Business School, he became a volunteer assistant coach for the men’s team and pursued his dream of playing professional tennis while practicing six days a week. After graduating from Harvard, Pecotic gave himself a year to join the tour and made progress before the pandemic closed the door on him.

In Delray Beach, he used his protected seeding to qualify for the main event and took his place in the main draw with impressive wins over Stefan Kozlov and Tennys Sandgren.

On Tuesday night, he was cool, calm and collected as he dominated the final two sets against the former world No.8.

Smooth return against Sock

After dropping the first four sets of the match, Pecotic kept his eyes on the prize.

I started at four loves, but I was close in the two games that I lost,” he said. “So even though the score looked like I was really weak, I just told myself that if I had won those two points, I would have doubled up and I felt like, that I still have a chance and when I got the first game on the board, and I felt: “I’m playing good tennis today.”

Pecotic turned the tables on Sock, saving the only break point he faced in sets two and three as he broke world number 143 four times on six occasions.

Is Pecotic considering leaving his job in finance for another ATP tour because of his win?

Maybe we should ask the public. Should I give it another go on tour? he told the audience.

Matija Pecotic will next face the winner of the match between No. 8 Ben Shelton and Marcos Giron in Delray Beach.

Delray Beach ATP250, other first round results (Delray Beach Stadium and Tennis Center, hard, USD 642,735, latest results first):

• Ben Shelton vs. Marcos Giron
• Aleksandar Vukic (LL) beat Christopher Eubanks (Q): 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4
• Radu Albot beat Fernando Verdasco (WC): 7-6 (3), 7-6 (1)
• Mackenzie McDonald defeated Taro Daniel: 6-2, 6-2
• JJ Wolf (9) defeated Ilja Ivashka: 7-5, 6-3
• Adrian Mannarino defeated Daniel Altmaier: 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Michael Mmoh beat Aleksandar Kovacevic (WC): 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Yoshihito Nishioka (5) defeated Oscar Otten: 6-3, 0-6, 6-4
• Nuno Borges (Q) beat Steve Johnson (LL): 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
• Emilio Gomez defeated Tung-lin Wu (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Denis Kudla beat Jordan Thompson: 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2)