Juan Martin del Potro’s comeback continues to gather steam with the Argentine steadying to close out Bosnian Damir Dzumhur to reach the Delray Beach Open quarter-finals on Thursday night. The 2011 champion, in just his second match of the season, put paid to his 24-year-old opponent’s fight-back to land a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 victory.
“It was a really tough match for me,” del Potro said. “He was really fast from the baseline and I couldn’t find the place to make winners with my forehand.
“I got my chances at the end of the match and I took it. I think I played my best game in the third set.
“He was trying to put the ball all the time to my backhand and coming to net when I sliced. He was smart but in the end I was more offensive from the baseline and came to the net in the important moments and that was the difference.”
Del Potro showed signs of rust in the first set, hitting five double faults, including two in the eighth game when he gave back a break. He lost eight of his first nine second-serve points up to the moment at 4-5 when he was down set point. He toughed out that danger on his second serve and avoided consecutive breaks to level the match at 5-all.
Showing signs of frustration, the seventh seed violently slammed his racquet strings into his head in the following game when he missed a makeable forehand passing shot at deuce. Despite his fifth double fault in the tie-break, del Potro took the first set and soon after broke for 3-1 in the second.
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Following three surgeries on his left wrist in 2014 and ’15, del Potro again hit his double-handed backhand conservatively and mixed in slices. His full-throttle forehand was dangerous at times but also often erratic.
Having handed the break straight back with a wild forehand error, a subsequent double fault on break point at 4-all cost the Argentine a second break of serve and, one game later, the set.
With games on serve in the deciding set, Dzumhur rallied from 0/40 but then double faulted at deuce. The game ended with both men at net, where del Potro reached high for a backhand smash winner to clinch the pivotal break and go ahead 4-2.
Dzumhur was staring down match point on serve at 2-5 but survived when del Potro missed wide off the backhand return. He held to force his opponent to serve it out.
Del Potro brought up match point No. 2 with a crunching forehand crosscourt winner. He closed it out when Dzumhur scrambled back for a lob and missed a tweener attempt.
In a battle of Delray Beach champions, del Potro will next take on defending champion, fourth seed Sam Querrey. The American earlier scored a convincing 6-2 6-3 result over his countryman and doubles partner Jared Donaldson to reach the quarter-finals.
“It’s going to be a completely different match,” del Potro said. “He serves as strong as me and plays really fast from the baseline. He’s the favourite to win because he beat me last time in this tournament and he has the higher ranking than me.”
In doubles, top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan won an all-American clash to reach the quarter-finals. They downed Jared Donaldson and Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-5 to set a quarter-final match with Yen-Hsun Lu and Leander Paes. Third seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi await the winners. Huey and Mirnyi downed Tommy Haas and Vasek Pospisil 7-6(5), 6-2.
Jonathan Erlich and Scott Lipsky ground out a 2-6, 7-6(5), 11-9 victory in an all-unseeded battle over Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic.
They will face Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram for a place in the final. The second seeds snuck through against Purav Raja and Divij Sharan 7-5, 7-5.
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