Juan Martin Del Potro was the feature performer during Thursday’s night session at the U.S. Open. Except he wasn’t.
Given top billing in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Del Potro vs. Steve Johnson turned out to be a mere appetizer to the main course being offered elsewhere on the grounds. A whopping four men’s singles matches were still in progress when Del Potro finished off a 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-2 beatdown of Johnson.
The recent Rio Olympics silver medalist had a tough test on his hands only for the first set and a half. Johnson forced an opening-set tiebreaker and then broke Del Potro for quick 2-1 advantage in the second. But it was all downhill from there for the American, who dropped serve at 3-2 and 3-4 on the way to a two-set deficit. When Del Potro broke to begin the third, it was all but over.
“It’s tough to play your best tennis against a guy as good as Juan,” Johnson explained. “He played great; served great…. He’s not 142 in the world by any means. Off the top of my head since Wimbledon, he beat Stan (Wawrinka), had a great Olympics. I mean, the guy’s a tennis player and a damn good one at that. I think it’s only a matter of time if he can stay healthy, and hopefully he does, because he’s good to have around on the tour.”
“I think I served much better than (in) my first-round match,” the 27-year-old Argentine commented. “I played focusing on the important moments of the game. I played great [in] the tiebreak. At the end I saw him physically (a) little tired, so I took all my chances to close the match in three sets.”
Thus continues an awesome summer run for Del Potro. In fact, since the start of the Olympics, just one man–who happens to be the hottest player in tennis at the moment–has managed to stop the former world No. 4. That would be none other than Andy Murray, who won a four-set thriller in the gold-medal match. Prior to beating Johnson, Del Potro rolled over countryman Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(3).
Up next on Saturday is a 10th career showdown against David Ferrer, who is leading the head-to-head series 6-3. They have not squared off since 2013 (a straight-set win for Del Potro at Wimbledon) mainly because of Del Potro’s extensive amount of time away from the sport. Three seasons later, Ferrer is clearly slowing down at 34 years old. With a 28-17 record for the 2016 campaign and a 5-7 clip in his last 12 matches prior to the U.S. Open, Ferrer has plunged to No. 13 in the world. He benefited from an opening-set retirement courtesy of Alexandr Dolgopolov and then outlasted Fabio Fognini 6-0, 4-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 at almost 1:00 a.m. on Thursday night (Friday morning).
Ferrer-Fognini was preceded in closure by three “day” matches that wrapped up after Del Potro’s victory over Johnson. Ivo Karlovic beat Donald Young in four sets, Daniel Evans upset Alexander Zverev in four, and Poalo Lorenzi outlasted Gilles Simon after a grueling five hours in a fifth-set tiebreaker.
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Worried about Delpo playing Ferru at 2 p.m. Wish he had the night spot but Nick got it this time.