RICKY DIMON REPORTS FOR TENNIS 10SBALLS FROM MUNICH – DEL POTRO CONTINUES COMEBACK WITH ANOTHER CLAY-COURT WIN

Written by: Staff on 28th April 2016

RICKY DIMON REPORTS FOR TENNIS 10SBALLS FROM MUNICH - DEL POTRO CONTINUES COMEBACK WITH ANOTHER CLAY-COURT WIN

epa05281596 Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in action against Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff during their second round match of the ATPÂ tennis tournament in Munich, Germany, 28 April 2016. EPA/SVENÂ HOPPE |

Juan Martin Del Potro’s first clay-court appearance since the 2013 Rome Masters is off to a strong start. The 2009 U.S. Open champion opened with a 7-6(2), 6-4 win over Dustin Brown before beating another German, Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday. Del Potro broke Struff seven times to book a place in the quarterfinals after one hour and 53 minutes.

The second-round struggle was nothing short of a tennis roller-coaster. Del Potro won the first five games of the match before suddenly losing serve at 5-0 and being forced to close it out at 5-2. Struff soon reeled off five of the first six games in set two. The German dropped two games in a row thereafter and faced two break points at 5-3, as well, but he managed to finish the job.

Continuing the see-saw trend, Del Potro surged to leads of 4-0 and 5-1 in the decider. The 27-year-old squandered two match points on his own serve in the seventh game, but he made no mistake with victory on his racket a second time at 5-3.

Next up for the world No. 337 is a seventh career meeting with Kohlschreiber, who has lost all six of their previous showdowns. The 27th-ranked German is 3-13 in total sets against Del Potro, but they have never faced each other on clay and they have not squared off since 2013 (Del Potro survived in a third-set tiebreaker at the Shanghai Masters that fall). Kohlschreiber is in outstanding form at the moment, with a 16-8 record in 2016 and a 13-5 mark in his last 18 matches. Munich’s No. 4 seed kicked off his week by defeating compatriot Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday.

German tennis player Philipp Kohlschreiber returns the ball to Spanish Rafa Nadal during their semi final match at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell Trofeo Conde Godoy held in Barcelona, Spain, on 23 April 2016. Nadal won by 6-3, 6-3. EPA/TONI ALBIR

Regardless of Friday’s result, Del Potro insists he will also play the Madrid Masters next week.

The Argentine posted the following on Facebook earlier this month: “I am really happy to tell you that Munich and Madrid will be my first two clay tournaments after a long time… I’ve been practicing on clay for a week now after years of not playing on this surface and I will keep getting better in the next few days.

“Rehab on my wrist is going as planned. Although I must be patient I am thrilled to be able to confirm two tournaments in a row, the first time I do this since I came back to tennis.”