Former US Open winner Juan Del Potro struggled to defeat Portugal’s world No. 488 Pedro Sousa as the big Argentine made an unconvincing start to his clay-court season at the Estoril Open on Tuesday.
Del Potro, who played only three events last year due to right wrist surgery, emerged a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 winner after nearly two hours, with qualifier Sousa putting in a respectable showing for the home crowd.
“I like playing here and I had a tough match today. He was playing well at home, but I’m happy to go through,” said the winner.
Sousa, 22, playing his first match at the ATP level, took a set off the former top five player and saved two match points — the second with a canny lob — before finally falling.
Along the way, he out-aced Del Potro six to four and broke the eighth seed twice.
Del Potro is playing this week on clay for the first time this season after resting following his clay-court outing in Miami. His last clay-court outing was the 2009 French Open.
“It’s been a long time since 2009, but I’m ready to fight again to win matches,” he said.
The Argentine is trying to play his way into form with the French Open now less than a month away on May 22.
After winning the first set, life got difficult for Del Potro, who lost serve in the second to trail 3-5, before Sousa served out to level the sets. In the third, it took a big effort from the seed to go through.
He finally wrapped up the win on a third match point as Sousa returned wide.
Del Potro moved into a -second-round clash with Colombian Alejandro Falla, who advanced as Spain’s Pablo Andujar retired injured at 4-6, 6-1, 4-4.
Del Potro currently ranks 48th after sinking to a low of 484 in early February. He began to build comeback momentum by taking a title at Delray Beach on hard court and reached the semi-finals at San Jose, Memphis and Indian Wells.
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