Seventh seed Juan Martin del Potro wanted an opportunity to test himself against the world’s best players at the Delray Beach Open. He’ll get just that when he takes the court on Saturday for a mouth-watering semi-final battle with top seed Milos Raonic that showcases two of the biggest serves and forehands in tennis.

Del Potro and Raonic are even in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry at 1-1, but haven’t played in four years. The Argentine, competing in his first ATP World Tour event of the season, said he was eager to see how his game responds against an in-form Raonic. His last match against a Top 5 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings came this past October in Basel (l. Nishikori).

“It’s going to be a big chance for me,” said del Potro. “He’s the favourite and is playing so good, but I want to see how my level is against the top players at this part of the year.”

The Argentine earned his place in the final four by defeating fourth seed and defending champion Sam Querrey on Friday 7-5, 7-5, avenging a loss to the American in last year’s Delray Beach semi-finals. Little separated del Potro and Querrey in their latest match, but the seventh seed gained the lone break in each set at 5-5. He denied Querrey any break point chances, firing eight aces and winning 87 per cent of his first serve points.

Del Potro improves his Delray Beach record to 11-1 and FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Querrey to 3-1.

“You have to keep focused the whole time against him and stay positive. There were many times when he was serving at 0/30 and would hit three or four aces, so you can get frustrated,” said del Potro. “I did a good job of staying calm and taking my chances when I had them.”

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Top seed Milos Raonic weathered a stern test from eighth seed Kyle Edmund on Friday at the Delray Beach Open to advance into the final four 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Edmund showed no fear in the opening set, grabbing the lone break at 3-3 and later holding to love at 5-4 to clinch the early lead. But Raonic responded strongly, winning the final three games of the second set to level the match and then immediately breaking Edmund to start the deciding set. The Canadian held his slight advantage the rest of the way, comfortably closing out the match on serve to advance in one hour and 39 minutes.

“I was a little bit slow off the block, got a little down on myself after that and wasn’t necessarily focusing on the right things. I was glad to be able to get out of that midway through the second set,” said Raonic. “But Kyle has very good potential. He takes it to you and has a forehand that’s very hard to read. He’s constantly improving, so things look bright for him.”

Standing between Raonic and Sunday’s final is the winner between seventh seed Juan Martin del Potro and fourth seed and defending champion Sam Querrey. Raonic is even in his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Querrey at 2-2 and has won their past two matches. He’s also even with del Potro in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry at 1-1, but they haven’t played in four years.

“I feel like I’m getting better each match,” said Raonic. “With this constant improvement, I’m feeling positive and like I have a good shot to win the matches ahead of me.”

Third seed Jack Sock continued his quest for his second ATP World Tour title this season by defeating fifth seed and fellow American Steve Johnson, 6-4, 7-6(3). Sock survived a wild first set highlighted by five breaks of serve. Both players held throughout the second set, but Sock raced to a 6/2 lead in the tie-break before wrapping up the contest on his third match point.

Sock improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Johnson to 4-1, including a win last month in the Auckland semi-finals.

“The first set was obviously different from our usual matches when it comes down to a break here or there, but I was glad to come out on top of it,” said Sock. “I might come over a few more backhands than him, but we’re both trying to do the same thing on court and that’s why our matches are always so close.”

He now faces another American in Donald Young, who advanced via walkover on Thursday when Steve Darcis withdrew due to personal reasons. Sock leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-0

“Anytime you get wins against a guy, that always helps,” said Sock.” But everyone keeps improving and tweaking things. He may come out with a completely different game plan from our past matches, but I know what works well for me and I’ll have to just go and do that.”

DOUBLES

Yen-Hsun Lu and Leander Paes caused an upset in the doubles draw by scoring a quarter-final win over top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6(4), 2-6, 10-7. They’ll now play third seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi for a place in the final.

Second seed Dominic Thiem continued his dominant form on Friday at the Rio Open presented by Claro, sweeping into his first ATP World Tour semi-final of the year with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win over Diego Schwartzman.

Thiem wasted no time getting down to business, keeping Schwartzman on the defence with his returns and racing through 11 of the first 13 games. The Argentine provided a late surge by breaking Thiem twice to go on a three-game run, but the Austrian calmly responded by breaking Schwartzman to love to advance in one hour and 15 minutes.

Thiem improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Schwartzman to 3-0 and scores his second straight win over the Argentine in Rio, having also prevailed in last year’s second-round clash. He also matches his semi-final finish in last year’s tournament.

Next up for the Austrian is fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who ended the inspired run of Argentine qualifier Nicolas Kicker 6-2, 6-3. The Spaniard has been on a hot streak this month, reaching the semi-finals in Quito and quarter-finals in Buenos Aires.

“It’s my first semi-final at a 500 tournament, so I’m very happy,” said Ramos-Vinolas. “I’m playing at a good level at the moment on clay and hope to keep it going for the next round.”

Defending champion Nick Kyrgios cruised into the semi-finals of the Open 13 Marseille on Friday, dismissing Slovakian qualifier Norbert Gombos 6-3, 6-3.

The 21-year-old Australian captured his first ATP World Tour title in Marseille 12 months ago, defeating Marin Cilic in the final. Later in the year he added to his title haul at the BB&T Atlanta Open (d. Isner) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo (d. Goffin).

Kyrgios booked his spot in the last four at this ATP World Tour 250 tournament in just 58 minutes. The third seed fired 15 aces and lost just six points on serve in a dominant display. He goes on to face either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Gilles Simon, who meet in an all-French quarter-final clash.

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“I thought I served and returned really well today,” said Kyrgios. “All that matters is that I’m going out there and playing every point hard. I think I’m pretty aggressive on my returns, particularly here where I’m trying to get in the first big hit.”

This evening, top seed Gael Monfils is in action against Richard Gasquet, while #NextGenATP star Daniil Medvedev looks to upset fourth seed Lucas Pouille. There are five Frenchmen through to the quarter-finals. 

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