Del Potro, Wawrinka grab crucial victories
Print Edition
Juan Martin del Potro battled his way past Richard Gasquet to win his opening round-robin match at the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday after Stanislas Wawrinka grabbed the spotlight with a win in his maiden appearance at the season-ending tournament in London.
After Wawrinka defeated Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-7 (0), 6-3 in Group A, Del Potro beat Gasquet 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-5 to secure crucial points in a toug h Group B that also includes Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who were scheduled to play each other late yesterday.
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated his compatriot David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2 yesterday.
After the round-robin stage, the top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals.
Playing in the tournament for the first time since 2007, Gasquet produced some stunning shots but struggled to return del Potro’s big serve in a match laced with unforced errors and winners from both sides.
Gasquet said he was disappointed by the result, his sixth loss in seven matches against the Argentine, but took some comfort in the way he lost.
“The level is very high. So every match is a final for me,” Gasquet said. “Tonight I played well, I was really close.”
Del Potro, who hit 35 winners and made 40 unforced errors, was relieved to win.
“This tournament means a lot to me,” he said. “In the end, I played solid and I won. Hopefully I can beat (Djokovic and Federer) but it’s going to be really tough for me. I don’t have anything to lose against them.”
Both players traded brilliant shots in the tiebreaker, as Del Potro’s clever drop shots and passing shots answered Gasquet’s fine volleys. Gasquet’s all-risk approach finally paid off as he sealed the set with two brilliant forehand winners.
In the second set, del Potro rallied from 40-0 down in the fourth game to break Gasquet’s serve. He served out the set after Gasquet shanked an easy overhead that would have given him two break points in the ninth game.
In the decider, Del Potro broke for a 4-3 lead but wobbled at 5-4 before capitalizing on the Frenchman’s mistakes to break again and then serve out the match.
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