Del Potro streaks into semis, Collins stuns Venus in Miami
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO raised the roof as he came from behind to beat Milos Raonic 5-7, 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-3) and power into a Miami Open semifinal clash with American John Isner.
Roared on by a partisan crowd, del Potro rallied after losing the first set to finally wear down the Canadian in two hours and 53 minutes of relentless drama.
There was little difference between these two big hitters, but it was the Argentine who held his nerve when it counted to book a last-four encounter with Isner today.
“I love to play in matches like this,” a visibly weary del Potro said after his 15th straight match win.
“We both played well, the difference was perhaps that I just played better in the tiebreaks.
“It’s going to be important that I recover physically and mentally because that was a real battle.”
Isner will, however, be a difficult nut to crack with the American recovering from an early season slump to play some of the best tennis of his career.
His destruction of South Korean Chung Hyeon 6-1, 64 was impressive considering the 14th seed arrived in South Florida having won just two matches all year.
In the women’s side of the draw, Danielle Collins produced the performance of a lifetime and pulled off an almighty shock by sending Venus Williams crashing out 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semifinals.
It was an amazing effort from a 24 year-old qualifier in just her second season as a professional and her debut appearance at Key Biscayne.
“I don’t think it was my best night of tennis, but there wasn’t a shot she couldn’t make,” Williams said. – AFP