Del Portro Does It In Delray

Written by: Staff on 28th February 2011

Del Portro Does It In Delray |

From yellowtennisball.com

This isn’t the biggest title of Juan Martin del Potro’s career, but by the way he celebrated his domination of the Delray Beach ITC, it certainly seemed that way. Fighting back from right wrist surgery that threatened the biggest shots in his arsenal – his serve and his forehand – del Potro didn’t drop a set all week, defeating Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4 in Sunday’s singles final. After Tipsarevic’s final forehand flew wide, the 2009 US open champion tossed his Wilson racquet into the wind, kissed his right wrist, and then threw shirts and wristbands toward his many countrymen in the crowd. “I feel completely tired,” del Potro said on court before addressing his adoring Argentinean fans en español. “It’s amazing for me to make this comeback. I’m trying to improve my game day by day, and today Janko played better than me. But I got a little lucky in the important moments. It was a very close match.” Tipsarevic opened strongly, hitting a pair of down-the-line backhand winners before breaking del Potro’s serve in the fourth game. Having fallen behind 4-1 in the first set, del Potro frustratingly flubbed an easy overhead into the net to start the sixth game. Tipsarevic sensed the importance of the moment, but del Potro immediately followed with his first forehand winner of the match and held serve after one deuce. “I thought that I could have won the game at 4-1,” said Tipsarevic. “I saw that he was really pissed, and he was talking to the referee, and just smacking the ball full-power… If I would have stayed solid in that game, things would have been much easier.” The sixth-seeded Serb missed an inside-out forehand to allow del Potro to break back in the seventh game. Two games later, Tipsarevic hit forehands into the net on three consecutive points to give del Potro his first lead of the match at 5-4.

Serving for the set, del Potro and Tipsarevic engaged in a five-deuce struggle. The Argentine survived a Love-40 hole, saved two more break points, and converted his third set point when Tipsarevic framed a forehand long. “He won the first set completely not playing his game,” said Tipsarevic. “Normally you’re used to del Potro winning games, sets and matches by smacking the ball left and right. But he was a 2-meter guy running left and right and making me make all the mistakes. This is why I am disappointed.” On serve in the second set at 2-2, del Potro varied his forehand with flat drives and short angles before undercutting a drop shot winner to set up a break point. While Tipsarevic struggled to convert his chances, del Potro was gifted his when the Serb double-faulted. Tipsarevic failed on three break points in the following game. They were the final three he’d receive, as del Potro held at love to clinch his first title since the 2009 US Open. “One out of 11 break points is just completely unacceptable against a guy like this in the finals,” said Tipsarevic. In tomorrow’s ATP rankings, the Argentine is expected to rise to around No. 85 in the world just three weeks after he was No. 484. Del Potro has posted an 11-2 record since then, also reaching semifinals in San Jose and Memphis. He earned 250 ranking points, $76,500 and a Porsche Carrera 911 for winning the ITC. “Today was my first match in the afternoon for a month,” said del Potro. “I played two indoor tournaments and then four matches here at night. It was very hot and of course I felt it. But in the final, you have to think about how you can win, whether you play badly or not.” Tipsarevic , 26, is still without a title after 134 appearances in the main draw of ATP World Tour events. But for the Serb, losing a final didn’t sting as much as losing the way he played. “I didn’t find the middle in my game today,” said Tipsarevic. “I was either too offensive trying to hit winners on the second or third ball, or I was too defensive trying to run and make him make a mistake… I’m really disappointed with the match today.”

In the doubles final, Americans Rajeev Ram and Scott Lipsky captured their second title of the season and third in the last seven months by defeating Christopher Kas of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria 4-6, 6-4, [10-3]. The Americans let a 4-1 lead slip away in the opening set, flailing on four straight returns as Peya served out the set at love. From 4-4, 15-30 in the second set, Ram and Lipsky won seven of eight points as the 6’4” Ram proved impenetrable at the net. “We were just looking to hang in there and play one point at a time and see if we could turn it around,” said Ram. “Sure enough, two minutes later we’re in the third set ’breaker. We had the momentum all of a sudden.” The teams split the first six points of the match tiebreak before switching ends of the court. Playing from the south side, the Americans ran off six straight points, never flinching on their volleys. Ram clinched the team’s third title with a service ace out wide past Peya.
In addition to reaching the Johannesburg final, Ram and Lipsky also won indoors in San Jose earlier this month and outdoors in the Atlanta heat last July. “We haven’t set many goals past now,” said Lipsky. “We just want to take every week as it comes and we’ve been playing pretty well the last few weeks. We’ll probably sit down after this and think of some bigger things.” The Delray Beach ITC set an attendance record for the week with 63,251 fans going through the turnstiles over the 10-day tournament.

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