For clay admittedly not being his favourite surface, Juan Martin del Potro is sure playing like someone very comfortable on the red dirt. The Argentine marched into his third Roland Garros quarter-final on Monday, beating American John Isner 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
The Argentine is through to his first quarter-final in Paris since 2012, and he'll face Croatian Marin Cilic or Italian Fabio Fognini with a trip to his second Paris semi-final on the line (2009).
Isner hadn't been broken during his first three matches and was trying to make only his second Grand Slam quarter-final (2011 US Open). The American had also beaten Del Potro during their most recent FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup, during the Miami Open presented by Itau semi-finals, before Isner celebrated his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title (d. Zverev) in south Florida.
But Del Potro took advantage of every chance he had against the Miami champion, breaking three times – once in each set – to advance in straight sets. He hit past Isner when the 6'10” right-hander charged the net, and Del Potro comfortably controlled play with his forehand during baseline rallies.
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The two were on serve until the Argentine came through in the seventh game of the first and second sets, when Isner delivered loose service games. At 3-3 in the opener, a netted forehand put Isner behind 15/40 and he couldn't recover. And during the seventh game of the second set, Isner again fell behind 15/40 before double faulting.
In the third, Del Potro broke with a forehand pass after Isner had served and volleyed.
Del Potro becomes only the third Argentine man to reach three or more Roland Garros quarter-finals, joining Guillermo Vilas (1975-80, 1982-83, 1986) and Guillermo Canas (2002, 2005, 2007). He has cast aside any injury concerns as well. Del Potro retired from his third-round match in Rome before Roland Garros. But now the Argentine is into the last eight in Paris and a contender to take home his first title at the clay-court Grand Slam championship.
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Did You Know?
With Del Potro's countryman Diego Schwartzman also reaching the quarter-finals, it's the first time Argentina has more than one men's quarter-finalist at Roland Garros since 2005 (Canas and Mariano Puerta).
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2JfeTtT
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