World Tour Finals preview and pick: Del Potro vs. Gasquet

Juan Martin Del Potro will look to maintain his outstanding indoor form when he takes the court on Monday in London. He is going up against second-time World Tour Finals participant Richard Gasquet.

Juan Martin Del Potro and Richard Gasquet will be facing each other for the seventh time in their careers and for the first time this season when they do battle in Group B action at the World Tour Finals on Monday night.

Del Potro is dominating the head-to-head series 5-1, including 3-1 on hard courts. He has won five in a row against Gasquet since the Frenchman prevailed 7-6(2), 6-2 at the 2007 Indian Wells Masters. They most recently squared off last year in the Basel semifinals, with Del Potro advancing via a 6-2, 6-2 blowout.

2007 was the only previous time Gasquet made it to the year-end championship (he went 1-2 in round-robin play in China and failed to reach the semis). The Frenchman needed an Andy Murray withdrawal to make it back this time around, but his season has still been an outstanding one. Gasquet boasts a 50-20 record to go along with three titles–two indoors, including one this fall in Moscow. He won two matches in Paris, over Fernando Verdasco and Kei Nishikori, before falling to Rafael Nadal in the quarters.

Only Novak Djokovic has posted better post-U.S. Open results than Del Potro. The fifth-ranked Argentine won titles in Tokyo and Basel, finished runner-up to Djokovic in Shanghai, and reached the Paris quarterfinals before losing to Roger Federer. Del Potro’s 50-14 record saw him coast into London for a second straight appearance and fourth overall.

Two red flags, though, accompany Del Potro. He has had almost no rest this fall due to winning so many matches and he was robbed on his way from Paris to London. Among the items he lost was a Rosary given to him by Pope Francis I.

“It was very valuable to me and I’m sad I lost it,” the 2009 World Tour Finals runner-up lamented. “I also lost my passport, some personal documents, and money, but the Rosary was the most important thing…. The good thing is that this tournament is too good to let this bring me down.”

Del Potro also may be too good, at least for Gasquet. The underdog’s one-handed backhand is lethal, but he likes plenty of time to set up for it and Del Potro has the bludgeoning power to take that away–especially on an indoor hard court. This may not be a rout given what has transpired for the favorite of late and because Gasquet is playing some of the best tennis of his career, but in the end Del Potro will likely win too many free points with serves and first-strike forehands.

Pick: Del Potro in 3

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