Del Potro Moves One Step Closer In Paris

Juan Martin del Potro continued his march towards a Nitto ATP Finals spot on Thursday when he defeated Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-4 for a place in the Rolex Paris Masters quarter-finals for the third time (also 2009, 2013).

The popular Argentine, who was at No. 47 in the Emirates ATP Race To London prior to the start of the US Open, is now up to No. 10 on 2,595 points — only 20 points behind Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta (2,615), who sits in the last automatic qualification berth.

Del Potro, the No. 13 seed this week, has gone 20-4 since 28 August and will now look to move past Carreno Busta with a victory on Friday over sixth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov or ninth seed John Isner of the United States.

In recent weeks, Del Potro has captured his 20th tour-level title at the Intrum Stockholm Open (d. Dimitrov) and finished runner-up at the Swiss Indoors Basel (l. to Federer). He has a 38-15 mark on the season.

The 29-year-old Del Potro has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals on four previous occasions (2008-09, ’12-13), highlighted by a run to the 2009 title match (l. to Davydenko). The season finale begins at The O2 in London on 12 November.

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