In Delray Beach, Marseille, and Rio de Janeiro, it has been a week marked by seeds and other favorites getting ousted early–not exactly an uncommon occurrence throughout the month of February, when many players are already looking ahead to Indian Wells and Miami.
The Delray Beach Open has held to form more than other two tournaments, with Frances Tiafoe’s quick exit being the only real surface. Tiafoe, the defending champion, lost from a set and break up against Daniel Evans (3-6, 7-6(1), 7-5) on Day 1. At the Open 13, only three seeds reached the quarterfinals and neither No. 2 seed Borna Coric nor third-seeded Denis Shapovalov won a single match. Even more carnage came at the Rio Open, where every seed is gone and only No. 5 Joao Sousa advanced to round two–where he promptly lost to qualifier Casper Ruud.
As for Delray, five of the eight seeds are through to the quarters. That includes top seed and world No. 4 Juan Martin Del Potro, whose comeback from his latest injury (knee) is off to a fine start even though he remains less than 100 percent. Del Potro opened with a win over Yoshihito Nishioka before taking down New York champion Reilly Opelka 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday night.
“He has a big bang, big serve, big forehands,” Del Potro said of Opelka. “He already won a title in New York and could be a dangerous player…. [The doctors] told me, ‘If you want to play, just go and play.’ The knee is going to keep hurting for a few more weeks. I’m trying to deal with this pain.”
“The guy’s a great player,” Opelka assured. “The sport needs him around…. I’m pretty tired, to be honest. My body is definitely telling me to take a break. I need some recovery.”
Next up for the Argentine on Friday is Mackenzie McDonald, while No. 2 seed John Isner faces Adrian Mannarino.
[polldaddy poll=10246713]
[polldaddy poll=10246711]
Leave a Reply