“If I can do that, next year I will make other challenges for myself”. When del Potro finally returned to competing in a Grand Slam for the first time in over two years at Wimbledon earlier this summer, he upset No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka in the second round before exiting in the third.
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Juan Martin del Potro is not your typical wild card. This was his first career meeting with a top-10 player.
That one, glorious effort remains del Potro’s only Grand Slam championship. “They know what has been through to get here to come back on tennis”, Del Potro said.
Thiem entered this tournament with a mediocre 45-41 career record on hard courts, which does not compare well to del Potro’s 229-94 mark.
Prediction: Del Potro in five sets. Ferrer’s biggest strengths are his tenacity and defensive abilities. “I didn’t expect to play at this level in this part of the year”. By relying nearly exclusively on slicing the backhand, Del Potro’s entire game relaxed and sure enough the winners started coming in bunches, especially with his forehand.
“It’s not only because I’ve been winning matches or anything like that”. With momentum and the crowds in Del Potro’s corner, I wouldn’t bet against the Argentine as he marches inexorably to peak form. “The people with me are making insane, and I can not believe that”.
“It’s tough when you don’t play your best tennis against a guy like Juan”, Johnson said. Now he’s set to play No. 8 seed Dominic Thiem on Monday. Now a solid top 10 player, the Austrian is beginning to live up to his promise on a more consistent basis. David Ferrer might easily give a statement to support this fact. Still only 26, this Spaniard may soon become the face of Spanish tennis once his older compatriots retire. “They create things on every court”, he told New York Times. Carreno Busta is coming off a title run in Winston-Salem and is brimming with confidence. He had 15 aces and won 85 percent of the points on his first serve. Thiem is not a great returner of first serves, as his extreme grips often see him beat for pace. It all ended just a few points later when Babos double-faulted on match point.
Ferrer described del Potro as an “amazing” player after he marked his comeback this year with a silver medal in Rio where he lost a four-hour epic against Andy Murray.
Halep said in her on-court interview that she liked the calm conditions of playing indoors but she was “a little bit cold”.
Johnson, No. 22 among ATP World Tour players, is only one spot behind highest-ranked American John Isner, something that might surprise casual fans of the game.
No. 11 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Ana Konjuh, and No. 10 Karolina Pliskova against the victor of Saturday night’s match between Williams’s older sister Venus and No. 26 Laura Siegemund.
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Halep says she wasn’t ideal, but pleased with how she played against the Belgian. I think I did a really good job to come back. Now he’s changing his game because is playing more aggressive with his forehand and with the serve. Pliskova is making her first trip past the third round, so Williams gets the slight edge here due to experience. After her display against Goerges, I believe that Venus is beginning to find her grove on Ashe stadium. Thirty-six-year-old Venus got to the final here in her first appearance, 1997 – when Pliskova was 5 years old.
