Del Potro digs deep to halt Fed Express
Argentine ends Swiss superstar’s streak with gutsy display in desert
INDIAN WELLS, California — Juan Martin del Potro keeps surprising himself.
Close to quitting tennis after four wrist surgeries in recent years, the Argentine fought to get back to the ATP Tour even as he was reduced to hitting his backhand with one hand instead of his usual two.
The struggle paid off on Sunday, when the 29-year-old staved off three match points in the third set to beat topranked Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2) for the BNP Paribas Open title.
The win ranks up there with Del Potro’s 2009 US Open title, in which he also beat Federer, and his 2016 Davis Cup win with Argentina.
“I cannot believe I won this tournament, beating Roger in a great final,” Del Potro said.
Naomi Osaka of Japan won the women’s title 6-3, 6-2 over Russian Daria Kasatkina in a battle of 20-year-old rising stars.
Del Potro and Osaka each earned $1.3 million.
Del Potro became the first Argentine champion in the 42-year history of the desert tournament. He handed Federer his first loss of the year, snapping the 36-year-old’s 17-match win streak.
“I feel frustrated that I let an opportunity like this go by,” Federer said.
Del Potro held a match point at 8-7 in the second-set tiebreaker, but lost the final three points on his own errors to allow Federer to force a third set.
“It was a lot of frustration after that match point, but then I played well,” Del Potro said.
They were even on serve in the third until Federer broke for a 5-4 lead with a backhand winner off del Potro’s serve.
Federer had a chance to serve out the match, holding two match points. But del Potro staved both off to force deuce.
Federer’s forehand went long, giving del Potro a break point. Federer answered with a backhand that hit del Potro at the net and then gained his third match point on del Potro’s forehand error.
Del Potro recovered to deuce with a forehand winner. Federer mis-hit a forehand high into the air beyond the baseline, giving del Potro another break point.
The Argentine cashed in with a well-placed forehand in the corner to tie the set, 5-all.
In the tiebreaker, Del Potro raced to a 6-1 lead, helped by two of Federer’s double faults. He closed out the win on his third match point when Federer’s forehand failed.
“I would like to play that tiebreaker again because I don’t know what the hell happened,” Federer said.
Del Potro lost just six points on his serve in the first set.
In the second-set tiebreaker, Del Potro and Federer took turns arguing with chair umpire Fergus Murphy.
Del Potro was annoyed the crowd was making noise on his serve and told the umpire he wasn’t warning them enough to be quiet.
“It had no effect on the outcome of the match,” Federer said. “I was just also trying to pump myself up more, to get energy.”
Del Potro survived three-setters against countryman Leonardo Mayer in the fourth round and Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarterfinals.
It was his first win against Federer since last year’s US Open quarters. Del Potro trails their head-to-head series 18-7, but owns a 4-2 advantage over the Swiss in finals.
Del Potro arrived at Indian Wells having won a title in Acapulco and having returned to the world’s top 10.
“I’m really enjoying playing tennis again,” he said. “I’m still surprising myself, and I want to keep surprising the tour.”
Osaka breakthrough
Osaka, meanwhile, will have little time to celebrate her first career victory after drawing eight-time champion Serena Williams in the first round of this week’s Miami Open.
“I was extremely stressed and extremely nervous, but my plan was to fake that I’m very calm,” Osaka said of her straight-sets final win over Kasatkina.
“I just knew that she was going to fight for every point, too, so I couldn’t afford to lose points based on nerves.”
Osaka defeated five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova, fifth seed Karolina Pliskova and world No 1 Simona Halep on her way to the title.
“It was hard for me to get my nerves in check in the first game, especially since — I don’t know why I decided to serve first,” Osaka said.
“We were playing some long points, and I wasn’t really trying to hit hard today, because I felt like it would be better for her to take my pace.”