Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Feisty Ferrer gives Del Potro a scare
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO overcame a stubborn challenge from David Ferrer to clinch their semi- final 6- 4 6- 4 and advance to a title showdown against Roberto Bautista Agut in the Auckland Classic yesterday.
Del Potro, who sealed the Auckland title in 2009, shone in the key moments and fought off six of the seven break points Ferrer forged in a tense clash, with two games in the second set lasting almost 10 minutes apiece.
The Argentine’s massive forehand, however, was the major defining factor in the match as he worked himself into a position to drive winner after winner past the Spaniard and clinched the semi-final in one hour, 46 minutes.
“I’m exhausted,” Del Potro said. “We played a great match. I think the crowd enjoyed the game. I did too. It’s never easy against David because he is such a fighter and runs a lot, I just took my chances.”
Del Potro will enter the top 10 for the first time since August 2010 on Monday ahead of his Australian Open first round clash against American teenager Frances Tiafoe.
He won the Auckland tournament in 2009 before going on to win his maiden grand slam title at Flushing Meadows later the same year.
However, the tall Argentine has battled with serious wrist injuries since 2014 and had to rehabilitate from four surgeries, but showed that his forehand, especially the ability to clinch winners on the run, will be a big threat in Melbourne.
“It’s amazing to me to be playing tennis again after my wrist problems,” Del Potro added.
“I’m just so pleased to be able to make another final.”
Earlier, fifth seed Bautista Agut outlasted Dutchman Robin Haase in an epic clash that took almost three hours before the Spaniard produced an audacious backhand lob that kissed the baseline to clinch the 6-7(7) 7-6(3) 7-6(5) win.
“Unfortunately the match can’t have two winners,” an exhausted Bautista Agut said after the two hour, 52 minute clash. “It was an unbelievable battle on the court.
“At the end everything was close, everybody knows we left everything on the court and anything could have happened.”
The 29-year-old, who won the title in 2016 but missed his defence last year due to illness, sunk to one knee and let out a massive yell of jubilation after he saw the ball drop in.
“The end was unbelievable,” he said. “When I saw the ball was in, I went crazy.
“I passed very bad moments on the court and that moment I screamed because I was very stressed.
“I’m just so happy that I have won.”
● Defending champion Elise Mertens of Belgium reached the Hobart International final with a 6-4 1-6 6-2 win over British qualifier Heather Watson.
The second-seeded Mertens recovered from a second-set lapse to edge out Watson, who won the tournament in 2015, in one hour and 42 minutes.
The 22- year- old world number 36 will play Mihaela Buzarnescu in today’s final after the Romanian sailed past fifth-seeded Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 6-2 6-2 in the second semi-final.
● Ashleigh Barty overcame a slow start to win her all-Australian semi- final against Daria Gavrilova 3-6 6-4 6-2 and advance to the final of the Sydney International.
The 21- year- old needed one hour, 58 minutes to see off the challenge of the Russian-born Gavrilova as both players struggled to hold serve throughout the match.
Barty held just once in the first set but reversed the momentum in the second when she broke in the ninth game after Gavrilova double faulted twice, which prompted the 23-year-old to smash her racquet in frustration and earn a code violation.
Former world number one Angelique Kerber registered her eighth win in as many matches in 2018 with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi as the German advanced to the Sydney final.
Giorgi, belying her ranking of world number 100, had defeated US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the first round, ousted twice Wimbledon and former Sydney champion Peta Kvitova and raced past Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-2 in the last eight.
But Kerber, currently ranked 22nd after a disappointing 2017 campaign, proved too strong for Giorgi despite the Italian racing to a 3-0 lead in the second set. – Reuters