Juan Martin del Potro was tired, sore and still nervous about being back in competition.
The 27-year-old Argentine had reason to celebrate, too, after beating Australian qualifier John-Patrick Smith 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday to advance to the Delray Beach Open quarter-finals.
Out for 11 months because of a left-wrist injury that took two surgeries to repair, Del Potro won consecutive matches for the first time since he reached the quarter-finals in Sydney in January last year.
Photo: Reuters
Smith attempted to exploit Del Potro’s backhand, a shot that the Argentine has had to alter from his customary two-hander to a one-handed slice due to the injury, but Del Potro was quick enough to run around the backhand and pummel forehands deep into the court.
“I need to improve my backhand as soon as I can,” said Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion and former world No. 4. “He kept making me hit backhands down the line and I don’t have the confidence to do that.”
Del Potro was next due to face fifth seed Jeremy Chardy of France.
Chardy fought through swirling wind to beat 19-year-old wild-card Noah Rubin of the US 6-4, 6-2. The Frenchman joined fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria as one of only two seeded players left in the draw.
Tim Smyczek set up another quarter-final against fellow American Sam Querrey.
Smyczek was entered in the qualifying tournament for the event when he learned American teenager Taylor Fritz had earned a special exemption into the main draw by virtue of reaching the semi-finals at the ATP Tour event in Memphis at the weekend.
Smyczek was given the wild card instead and he promptly beat Fritz in the first round. He followed with a win over seventh seed Donald Young 1-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 to reach only the second ATP Tour quarter-final of his career.
The 28-year-old Tampa resident has never reached a semi-final.
Young led Smyczek 6-1, 3-1 before two costly double faults in the sixth game gave the break back.
“I was feeling good mentally, even though I was getting my butt kicked,” Smyczek said. “I was just trying to figure out a way to disrupt his rhythm.”
Querrey, bolstered by 10 aces, including three in a row at the end of the match, defeated another American, Austin Krajicek, 6-4, 6-3.
OPEN 13
AP, MARSEILLE, France
Second seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and third-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet reached the Open 13 quarter-finals on Thursday.
Berdych, a finalist three years ago, needed more than two hours to get past the 18-year-old German Alexander Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 and was next due to meet sixth seed David Goffin of Belgium.
They were evenly matched, with the 30-year-old Berdych hitting 10 aces to Zverev’s nine and breaking his serve four times, despite losing his on three occasions.
Gasquet withstood 14 aces to beat 2014 French Open semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, breaking him three times and dropping serve once.
He was next due to face big-serving Australian Nick Kyrgios after he beat Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-4, 6-4.
Eighth seed Benoit Paire of France and Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia also reached the last eight.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with