Del Potro Enjoys Winning Return To Basel

Two-time champion Juan Martin del Potro returned to the Swiss Indoors Basel on Wednesday for the first time since he had beaten Roger Federer in the 2013 final. Apparently there were no hard feelings as a packed crowd in St. Jakobshalle welcomed the Argentine back with a rowdy applause. Del Potro thanked them with his 11^th consecutive win in the Swiss city, dismissing Dutch qualifier Robin Haase 6-3, 6-4.

The 6’6” right-hander converted all four break points and won nearly 60 per cent of his second-serve points in the one-hour, 22-minute contest. After beating Federer in both the 2012 and 2013 Basel finals, del Potro missed the 2014 and 2015 tournaments because of a left-wrist injury that caused him to miss almost all of those seasons.

He’s made quite the comeback this year, though. When he returned in Delray Beach in February, del Potro was No. 1,042 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He entered Basel as No. 42 and fresh off his first ATP World Tour title in more than 33 months. Del Potro won the If Stockholm Open title on Sunday (d. Sock).

“This year is very special… I’m just trying to enjoy all my matches,” del Potro said. “My wrist is OK. My biggest goal for this year is to finish healthy and then, if I’m still winning matches, that would be great.”

The 28-year-old del Potro, who received a wild card into Basel, will meet fifth seed David Goffin in the second round. The Belgian is in close contention for a spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Goffin is currently in 10^th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London, 190 points behind No. 9 Tomas Berdych.

Goffin needs to reach the Basel final to pass Berdych. The top eight players at the end of the season will qualify for the year-end championships, to be held 13-20 November at The O2 in London.

View the Emirates ATP Race To London