DEL POTRO REACHES THIRD STRAIGHT QUARTERFINAL OF 2011 By STEVE DORSEY

Written by: Staff on 25th February 2011

DEL POTRO REACHES THIRD STRAIGHT QUARTERFINAL OF 2011 By STEVE DORSEY |

from www.yellowtennisball.com
The past 13 months has been a roller coaster ride for Juan Martin del Potro. But the lanky Argentine’s second-round match Thursday night at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships was more like drag race. It didn’t take long for del Potro to reach the finish line a winner.

Two days after winning his first-round match in straight sets, Del Potro cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win against Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili to reach the ITC quarterfinals. In his first two matches here, Del Potro has lost only seven games.

“I had a good night. I feel really well,” said Del Potro, who was a special exemption entry for the ITC after reaching the semifinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships last week in Memphis. “I’m playing nice tennis again.”

That’s a positive sign for Del Potro, who in the span of a year tumbled from a career-high world No. 4 ranking to No. 485 after sustaining a wrist injury early last year that eventually required surgery and shelved him for most of 2010.

“It was really tough,” Del Potro said of the injury-related layoff from competitive tennis in 2010. “A year out of competition is not good for my game, or for my mind.”

But he said he’s encouraged by the progress he is seeing in his game lately. He opened the 2011 season as a wild card entry at the Medibank International and advanced to the third round. His ranking slid all the way to No. 485 — a year after being No. 4 in the world — after losing to Marcos Baghdatis in the second round at the Australian Open.

Things began changing in San Jose, however, as Del Potro reached the semifinals before losing to top seed Fernando Verdasco. He reached the semifinals again last week in Memphis, losing to top seed and world No. 8 Andy Roddick.

Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, defeated Richard Berankis 6-4, 6-1 on Tuesday in his first-round match at the Delray ITC.

He delivered a powerfully dominating performance Thursday night against Gabashvili, who upset No. 4 seed John Isner in the first round. “I played better today than I did Tuesday,” said Del Potro, who took only 69 minutes to dispatch of Gabashvili. “One positive is the match was short, so I have more time to recover for tomorrow.”

Del Potro said he feels as though he is beginning to gain more confidence in his serve. He won 22-of-24 first-serve points against Gabashvili and registered four aces with no double faults.

“I just want to improve day-by-day and give 100 percent in practice,” said Del Potro, who will face No. 5 seed Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals on Friday. “I like this kind of surface and there’s alot of Argentine fans in Delray and Miami for support.”

Anderson, who was extended to three sets in his first-round match, defeated Florent Serra 6-1, 6-4 in Thursday night’s final match. Anderson and Del Potro, both with 10-4 records in 2011, will be the final quarterfinal match Friday night. No. 2 seed Mardy Fish plays qualifier Alejandro Falla in the early evening match.

Thursday’s first quarterfinal match is an intriguing one, with American qualifier Ryan Sweeting clashing with Japan’s Kei Nishikori. Sweeting upset No. 3 seed Sam Querrey, and Nishikori ousted fan favorite James Blake to reach the round of eight. That match is scheduled to begin not before 12:30 p.m., followed by the day’s second quarterfinal between No. 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic and Ivan Dodig

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