Juan Martin Del Potro battled his way into a highly-anticipated second-round showdown with Novak Djokovic on Wednesday in Acapulco. Rafael Nadal is also aiming for a spot in the quarterfinals as he faces Palo Lorenzi.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Martin Del Potro
It will be a rematch of last summer’s Rio Olympics first-round stunner–not to mention many more entertaining affairs between them–when Djokovic and Del Potro meet again in round two of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel on Wednesday. Del Potro upset Djokovic 7-6(4), 7-6(2) on his way to the silver medal, but the Argentine still trails the head-to-head series 11-4. The second-ranked Serb had won seven of their last eight encounters prior to his Rio setback, including a five-set thriller in the 2013 Wimbledon semifinals.
Del Potro’s wrist problems have prevented them from squaring off more than once since the start of the 2014 campaign, but he ensured another showdown against Djokovic by outlasting Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1) on Tuesday night. Thus began the world No. 32’s second event of 2017, which was preceded by a semifinal showing in Delray Beach. Acapulco marks Djokovic’s third tournament this season and he is bidding for his second title. After lifting the winner’s trophy in Doha by beating Andy Murray in the final, Djokovic was stunned by Denis Istomin in the Australian Open second round. This week’s top seed got back in action with a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over Martin Klizan on Tuesday. Djokovic looks motivated and he will certainly be just that against Del Potro, who will not be helped by having needed two hours and 30 minutes to get past Tiafoe.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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Paolo Lorenzi vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Nadal and Lorenzi will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the Acapulco quarterfinals on Wednesday. All three of their previous encounters have gone Nadal’s away, and–somewhat interestingly–Lorenzi has been far more competitive on clay than on a hard court. Granted the red stuff is also the Italian’s favorite surface, but perhaps not to the same extent that Nadal prefers it. Whatever the case, Nadal prevailed in competitive contests in Rome (2011) and Buenos Aires (2016) before destroying Lorenzi 6-1, 6-1 this past fall at the Shanghai Masters.
The sixth-ranked Spaniard is off to an impressive start on hard courts this season, with three more tournaments–including this one in Acapulco–remaining before the clay-court swing. Nadal is 9-2 with a quarterfinal showing in Brisbane, a runner-up finish at the Australian Open, and a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Mischa Zverev on Tuesday night. Lorenzi earned another shot at the 14-time major champion by outlasting Yen-Hsun Lu 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in his opener. The world No. 38, who is now an even 7-7 this year, had been coming off consecutive first-round losses in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Nothing suggests this will be anything other than a complete beatdown.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
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Rafa’s playing extremely well. He just need to build more momentum playing like this. I am even satisfied with this ROS in the first two matches.
With this win, Rafa has passed Dimitrov in the ATP race. He is now 2nd at 1335 points behind Federer who is at 2045 points.
VR did you watch the Delpo vs Djoko match? How were they playing, good or so so?
unfortunately I couldn’t watch the match Luckystart. It was 4.30 am here in the UK so kind of impossible to watch :/
I will probably watch a recorded version and share my thoughts
And I would argue that Rafa is doing well with his 2013 style game with minimal changes.
As I’ve maintained, he just needed his confidence back. The game never passes him by as some had surmised.
At his 2013 best, with full confidence, Rafa is one of the favourites anywhere.
hawkeye, I can’t remember the last time I agreed with every word you said.
I must be wrong then.
hahahahhahahaaaha
hawkeye, yeah that is right. 2013 level is still good enough. The question marks, however, can be over his serve. His 2013 serving wasn’t big but it was accurate and consistent. I hope he can maintain that this year and there is a lot of hope.
There have been changes but yes there are ‘minimal’- but when you are Rafael Nadal, that is all you need.
I am happy they have fresh inputs from Moya as well. I remember Moya was so good at attacking Rafa’s forehand with flat inside-out forehands. Watch their Chennai match for best illustration. I am already seeing Rafa covering and defending that side better.
It is all interlinked. He plays a bit better , successflly implements some good practice-court stuff , gets more confidence which then enables him to play a bit better. His mentality is also congruent with these marginal improvements as he so much believes in improving little by little as a player every day.
This might be too early to say anything, but I think that IF RAFA DOES’NT GET INJURED, he will be a strong contender at every slam this year and even fight for the the top 2 ranking spots.
Love how Rafa has approached these early round matches here. Just keep hugging that baseline and ATTACK.
Vamos Rafa!
The biggest test is still against Djoko. I just dislike it that Djoko enters every event Rafa plays; he’s a big stumbling block for Rafa.
I was hoping for Rafa to win a title or two first, gain some confidence in his own game, before facing Djoko for the ultimate test. He was doing fine last year clay season but had to injure his wrist and then lost to Djoko at Rome.
Rafa did try hard last year at IW, Rome and at end of 2015 at Beijing and WTF but he’s still not good enough. Every time when Rafa met Djoko, it was in the later rounds when Djoko was at his best or near his best level. I was hoping they could meet earlier so that Rafa has a better chance against a Djoko who’s still not playing his best yet, something like vs a Istomin in R2 or Querrey in R3 but Rafa does not have such chances to catch Djoko cold.
I do feel all it takes is one win over Djoko, for Rafa to get back his full confidence, believing in his own game and his own abilities.
Yes, I want to see Rafa beat Djoko before I’m confident that he’s back. Not one bit bothered about Rafa playing Murray.
@Luckystar, I watched highlights and yes Delpo did kind of run out of gas after 4-3. He had some pretty lousy forehand errors and I could see some sluggishness. Djokovic’s ROS and backhand counterpunching were quite solid in that part though.
Kyrgios has a shot at Novak I think.
Thanks. I don’t trust Kyrgios. He’s one guy who needs to be pushed by someone around him in order to be motivated to play well.
I remember at Wimbledon 2014 when he was to play Rafa in R4; his mum told him he couldn’t beat Rafa, that had sort of motivated him to play his best tennis vs Rafa and won.
Since then he kept losing to Murray, beat Fed once, and lost to Rafa on clay. I doubt he’s motivated now to beat Djoko.
When Kyrgios beat Rafa at Wimbledon, he had nothing to lose so he was able to swing freely and take a gamble on hitting winners on every shot and serve as big as he could. Then the hype started and people have expectations of him so he he can’t throw caution to the wind anymore and I think that he feels a little bit embarrassed when he is not living up to expectations which is when he decides to be disruptive.
Rosol is the same. He beat Rafa by going for broke because no one expected him to win and the gamble paid off, but after that he hasn’t been able to deliver. Donskoy’s win over Federer was more measured, he didn’t take unnecessary risks, he just played a solid match.
From quotes on the ATP site it sounds like Federer underestimated his opponent, didn’t do his homework and was at a loss in tight moments. Things a coach should help with, no?
I did see the Novak/Delpo match. I thought Delpo outplayed Novak throughout most of the match. But he had opportunities to close out in the second set and didn’t get it done.
I thought Delpo did run out of gas late in the third set. It’s a match that I think he could have and should have won. He was up a break and only needed two more games to win. But I do give Novak credit for raising his level of play and pressuring Delpo.
I don’t know if Delpo can play consistently well enough and have the stamina to contend for slams. But it is good to see him playing again because it reminds one of just how tough he can be even for the top players.
Thanks for this NNY. So Delpo was able to impose his game yet again. Slams also have a day of rest in between matches so Delpo is quite dangerous as he can be well rested before a big slam match.
Do you think Novak is still vulnerable? Looks like he is still struggling a bit mentally. He is not that confident.
Nole was inconsistent in the first set, particularly towards the end. I missed the rest.
vr,
First, nice to see you hear! You make a good point about Delpo having a day of rest in slams. I don’t want to write him off completely. His talent and game are such that one can never do that. He will have challenging draws, given his ranking. But I think we saw in this match that he can still be a formidable opponent for even the top players.
I do think that Novak is still struggling. There were moments where the mental fragility was evident. The tennis channel commies saud that they thought Novak needed this win more than Delpo. I think they were right.
Novak seemed to get better as the match went on, but Delpo hung in there and his forehand was formidable. Novak was the fitter player in the end and he was able to finish off Delpo, but it was far from easy! I do think this win will help Novak, but I don’t think his issues will be resolved overnight.
I hope to see you here more often posting your analysis and thoughts!
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Be focused, be confident, be strong, be brave, Rafa!
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