Juan Martin del Potro won his first title in his first final since winning the 2009 US Open, beating Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4 at the Delray Beach championships on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Del Potro, on the comeback trail after missing most of last season with a right-wrist injury, looked fatigued throughout the finals at Delray Beach, but he willed himself to victory over the erratic Tipsarevic, then thrust his arms in the air and kept kissing his wrist — almost in thanks for it healing.
“Three months ago, I was thinking I’ll be trying to play tournaments,” Del Potro said. “Now I won a tournament. It’s great to win a tournament after a year.”
Del Potro should make a big move from No. 166 when the next ATP Tour rankings are released, but he knows there is still a long way to go before he contends with the top players again.
The Argentine, who has eight career wins, reached the semi-finals in San Jose and Memphis in advance of playing Delray Beach. He plans to stay in South Florida and skip the Davis Cup for Argentina this coming weekend, then play at Indian Wells or in Miami later this month.
The 52nd-ranked Tipsarevic was trying to win his first title in three career finals, but he couldn’t hold on to his early advantage in the match. The Serbian struggled on his serve, succeeding with only 49 percent of his first serves throughout the match and he was only able to capitalize on one of 11 break points on Del Potro’s serve.
“The key was the break points and my first serve percentage was horrible,” Tipsarevic said. “All the factors were going my way to win, but I really didn’t use my chances. One of 11 break points — it’s completely unacceptable against a guy like this in a final.”
At the beginning of the match, Tipsarevic raced to a 4-1 lead. Del Potro was looking flat and could not find any range with his trademark forehand, but then Tipsarevic played a poor seventh service game to hand Del Potro back the service break, which turned the match to his favor.
In the second set, Del Potro scored the one necessary service break in the fifth game.
Tipsarevic was heading off to join his Serbian Davis Cup teammates in Novi Sad, Serbia, where they will begin defense of their Davis Cup title against India.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two