Juan Martin Del Potro’s comeback from an injury layoff of nearly a year ended in defeat on Saturday as the 2009 US Open champion fell to Sam Querrey 7-5, 7-5 in the ATP Delray Beach Open semi-finals.
Querrey fired 10 aces and won 30 of 34 points on his first serve to advance after 80 minutes without ever facing a break point, booking a date in yesterday’s final against fellow American Rajeev Ram.
Ram upset Bulgarian fourth-seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-3 in the other semi-final, also without facing a break point.
Del Potro, ranked world No. 1,042, was in his first event since March last year following surgery on his left wrist in June last year. The 27-year-old wildcard entrant missed most of the 2014 and 2015 seasons due to the wrist.
Querrey, ranked 61st, had lost both prior meetings with the South American star without taking a set, but had not faced him in nearly five years.
Querrey is seeking his eighth career ATP crown, but the first since Los Angeles in 2012. Ram is seeking a third title after winning on Newport grass in 2009 and last year.
Ram, ranked 89th, broke Dimitrov to open the match and held from there to capture the first set, taking the final game at love. Ram broke Dimitrov again in the final game, the match ending when the Bulgarian netted a forehand.
“I felt calm at the start. I had a good game plan going out,” Ram said. “He made some adjustments, but I thought I was pretty good the whole way. I wanted to make sure I was on offense a lot.”
Open 13 Provence
AFP, MARSEILLE, France
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios fired 15 aces to defeat Czech second-seed Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday and set up a Marseille ATP final clash against former US Open champion Marin Cilic.
Kyrgios, the world No. 41, did not face a break point in his 70-minute victory as he reached his second career final having lost his only other previous championship match in Estoril last year.
Kyrgios, 20, was yesterday scheduled to face top-seeded Cilic, who made the final by seeing off French eighth-seed Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.
Cilic, the world No. 12, sent down 22 aces in his win.
The Croatian defeated Kyrgios in their only previous meeting at the 2013 French Open.
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