Juan Martin del Potro suffered his first defeat in his comeback bid Saturday at the Delray Beach Open, but the former World No. 4 admits that just competing again is the biggest victory of all.

“I always try to win, that’s for sure,” Del Potro said following a 7-5, 7-5 loss to Sam Querrey in the Delray Beach semi-finals. “But this week I won more than a tournament. I’m so glad to play tennis again.”

Del Potro had not dropped a set in his first three matches this week, beating Denis Kudla, John Patrick Smith and Jeremy Chardy. Sidelined for nearly one year with chronic wrist issues, the Argentine chose the site of his eighth ATP World Tour title – won in 2011 (d. Tipsarevic) – for his comeback debut. It was an emotionally and physically tiring week for the 27 year old, who is looking forward to a fruitful comeback.

“Sam was really smart playing against me tonight,” Del Potro added. “He served really well. I didn’t have a rhythm, but that’s normal because I was tired. I couldn’t move fast on court and I missed too many forehands and he played at a higher level than me tonight.”

Del Potro will next compete at the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year in Indian Wells, where he was awarded a main draw wild card. Owning a 16-5 tournament record, he finished runner-up in his most recent appearance in 2013 (l. to Nadal).

“I can confirm I will play in Indian Wells, which is good news for me. I have a few weeks to rest and to train. I will be there to play another tournament and I’m looking forward to the future. I can start to make a plan to play more tournaments. I have many positive things to take from this.”

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan advanced to their first ATP World Tour final in six months, downing Jeremy Chardy and Leander Paes 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday at the Delray Beach Open.

The two-time defending champion Bryans have lifted the trophy on four occasions, in 2009-10 and 2014-15. They will appear in a sixth Delray Beach final, also reaching the title match in 2008. The American twins, who notched a 30th win over Paes in 43 encounters, were cheered on by wives Lucille and Michelle and Bob’s eldest child Micaela.

The top seeds will battle Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin in Sunday’s final, after the Austrian-French duo rallied past third seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi 3-6, 6-1, 10-5. Champions to open the season in Chennai, Marach and Martin continued their early-season surge following a semi-final run last week in Memphis.

Top Seeds Ousted In Rio
Top seeds and home favourites Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares were upset in the semi-finals of the Rio Open presented by Claro, falling 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 to Pablo Carreno Busta and David Marrero. Carreno Busta advanced to his second ATP World Tour doubles final after winning his first title (w/Duran) two weeks ago in Quito, while Marrero is appearing in his 24th title match. They will face second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who dispatched Thomaz Bellucci and Marcelo Demoliner 6-4, 6-4. The Colombians won the inaugural Rio title in 2014 (d. Marrero/Melo).

For the first time in the three-year history of the Rio Open presented by Claro, Spain will not be represented in the singles final. Top seed and 2014 champion Rafael Nadal was upset by Pablo Cuevas in a late-night semi-final clash in Rio de Janeiro, falling 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-4. It was just Nadal’s second defeat on clay to a player ranked outside the Top 30 of the Emirates ATP Rankings since 2005.

In a rematch of their quarter-final meeting on the same court last year, which was won by Nadal in a thriller that concluded at 3:19am – the second-latest finish in ATP World Tour history – Cuevas would get his revenge. The Uruguayan fired 48 winners, including 10 aces, and saved 11 of 13 break points for the win after three hours and 28 minutes.

Despite edging Cuevas in a first set tie-break and denying a pair of set points deep in the second, Nadal lost steam as the match wore on. The World No. 45 would not look back after grabbing an early mini-break in the second set tie-break, eventually forcing a decider. He would save two break points in the sixth game of the third set and survived a stern test from Nadal, despite squandering a pair of match points at 5-3.

It was Cuevas’ first victory over Nadal in three FedEx ATP Head2Head clashes, denying the Spaniard his 100th clay-court final. He advances to his fifth ATP World Tour title match and will look to build on a 3-1 record in finals when he takes on Guido Pella.

On Friday, Pella reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Rio de Janeiro. The Argentine is not stopping there, surging into his first final with a dominant 6-1, 6-4 victory over Dominic Thiem.

For Pella, the 25-year-old’s improbable run to a first tour-level final has come less than three months after suffering a partially torn right adductor muscle at the ATP Challenger Tour Finals. On Monday, he saved three match points in upending John Isner in a third-set tie-break and added another Top 20 win in less than one week over Thiem.

The 19th-ranked Austrian, who was riding an eight-match win streak following a title run in Buenos Aires, contested a sixth consecutive clay-court semi-final in ATP World Tour events. He was coming off a third victory over a Top 10 opponent after toppling second seed David Ferrer on Friday.

“Today, he was just the better player on the court,” said Thiem. “He had the same conditions, but he just handled them better than me. Everything was at a couple per cent less than the last matches.

“I played a great tournament and I would love to come back next year.” 

Pella rose to the occasion from the onset on Saturday, pummeling short balls off Thiem’s racquet and taking advantage of early windy conditions. A one-hour rain delay stopped the action after the Argentine streaked to a 6-1, 1-1 lead and he would not stumble when play resumed. With Thiem serving down 5-4 in the second set, a backhand wide gave Pella a pair of match points and a double fault would seal the victory after 73 minutes. Pella fired 14 winners and capitalised on 21 Thiem unforced errors to capture their first FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter.

Rajeev Ram will play for a third ATP World Tour title in as many final appearances after upsetting fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-finals of the Delray Beach Open on Saturday. The 31 year old will be in uncharted territory on Sunday, as his previous titles have come on the grass of Newport (2009 and 2015).

“I felt calm at the start of the match, I had a good game plan going out,” Ram said. “[Dimitrov] made some adjustments, but I thought I was pretty good the whole way.

“I wanted to make sure I was on offence a lot. I didn’t want to run side-to-side chasing his forehand.”

“He was returning well and putting me in uncomfortable positions,” Dimitrov said. “There was just nothing out there on my side, but that’s just one tennis match. Onto the next week.”

The American all-courter improved to 6-4 on the year, with half of his victories coming against players in the Top 30 Emirates ATP Rankings (Anderson – Australian Open, Tomic – Delray Beach). Ram’s controlled aggression served him well on a blustery day in Delray. He struck six aces, did not face a break point and is now 2-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against the Bulgarian.

“My career has always been about improving and enjoying myself.,” said Ram, who will reach a career-high ranking next Monday. “Some of the things I’ve worked on in the last eight month have really translated. Things such as switching to a bigger, more powerful racquet to stay on offence a bit more.”

Ram’s final opponent will either be countryman Sam Querrey or wild card Juan Martin del Potro. The two big hitters will clash under the lights during the night session.

Nick Kyrgios was perfect on serve en route to a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 2 seed Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals of the Open 13 Provence on Saturday. The powerful Aussie struck 15 aces, won 93 per cent of first serve points and did not face a break point in the 70-minute victory.

In advancing to his second ATP World Tour final (Estoril 2015, l. to Gasquet), Kyrgios improved to 6-1 on the season and avenged his Australian Open loss to Berdych. The 20 year old has now recorded consecutive wins over players in the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings after defeating Richard Gasquet in the quarter-finals.

Kyrgios’ final opponent will be Marin Cilic. The Croat, playing in Marseille for the first time in five years, fired 22 aces to defeat Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3. The World No. 12 will be shooting for a 15th ATP World Tour final, and first since defeating Roberto Bautista Agut in the Moscow final last year.

Cilic only dropped serve once in the two-hour match and evened his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Paire in their second tour-level meeting. He improved to 7-2 in Marseille and is 1-0 against Kyrgios in tour-level meetings (2013 Roland Garros).