DEL POTRO DOWNS DOM THIEM AT THE MADRID MASTERS OPEN TENNIS TOURNAMENT, OH AND RAFA RAFAEL NADAL ALSO ADVANCES BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 3rd May 2016

DEL POTRO DOWNS DOM THIEM AT THE MADRID MASTERS OPEN TENNIS TOURNAMENT, OH AND RAFA RAFAEL NADAL ALSO ADVANCES BY RICKY DIMON

epa05288330 Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in action against Austrian Dominic Thiem during their first round match of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica courts in Madrid, Spain, 03 May 2016. The Mutua Madrid Open runs from 29 April to 08 May. EPA/J. J. GUILLEN |

Juan Martin Del Potro’s comeback reached new heights on Tuesday, when he pulled off a 7-6(5), 6-3 upset of Dominic Thiem during first-round action at the Mutua Madrid Open. Del Potro scored his best win since 2013 by defeating the No. 14 player in the world after one hour and 44 minutes.

The 2009 U.S. Open champion fought off three set points while serving at 4-5 in the opener before consecutive love holds led to a tiebreaker. Del Potro saw a 3-0 lead evaporate and soon found himself trailing 5-4, but he won the final three points to take it.

Perhaps bogged down by the first-set disappointment and by a quick turnaround on the heels of a 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-6(4) loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Munich final on Sunday, Thiem fell by the wayside in the second. The 22-year-old Austrian got broken in his opening service game and squandered four break-back chances–two at 3-1 and two more at 5-3.

“I have just played my best match since I came back to tennis after my surgeries,” Del Potro assessed. “I’ve had a great test against a very high-level player.”

This is Del Potro’s fifth tournament of 2016 after he missed almost all of last season with recurring wrist problems. The 27-year-old Argentine had not defeated anyone ranked so high since getting the best of then-world No. 9 Richard Gasquet at the 2013 World Tour Finals in London.

Rafael Nadal also contested his opening match of the week on Tuesday and had no trouble during a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Andrey Kuznetsov. Having already enjoyed a first-round bye, Nadal booked his spot in the last 16 by coasting in one hour and 18 minutes.

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Russian Andrey Kuznetsov during their Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament second round match at the Caja Magica Tennis Center in Madrid, Spain, 03 May 2016. The Mutua Madrid Open runs from 29 April until 08 May 2016. EPA/CHEMA MOYA

The fifth-ranked Spaniard served at an awesome 80 percent (33 for 41) and won 36 of 41 service points. He struck 22 winners compared to only nine unforced errors.

Nadal awaits either Lucas Pouille or Sam Querrey, while Del Potro will go up against Jack Sock on Wednesday.