Juan Martin Del Potro downs Kei Nishikori in the third round – Wimbledon Championships 2012
Former world number four, Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, moved to the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championships for the second successive year, beating Asia’s best player, Kei Nishikori, in a one-sided match on Saturday.
The Argentinean won in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-1 in the third round at the All England Club in London. Del Potro needed two hours and 26 minutes to win the contest against the 20th ranked player.
Currently ranked ninth in the world, Del Potro started off brilliantly in this contest, grabbing a breakthrough in the second game and holding his following serve to go up 3-0. The Argentinean did not allow Nishikori to comeback,
closing it 6-3.
In the second set, Del Potro and Nishikori won their opening serves to level the score at 1-1. The Argentinean struck in the third game to attain a 2-1 advantage but he could not maintain it till the end this time, dropping his
serve in the eighth game and squaring off the proceedings at 4-4. The rest of the sent did not see any break, as the score was taken to 6-6 to a tie-breaker. Del Potro claimed a 2-0 lead at the start and made the most of it this time to triumph 7-6(3).
The third set was a pretty one sided affair, as Del Potro allowed the Japanese to win only one game, breaking him twice and capitalising on both of them to win 6-1.
This was the 2009 US Open champion’s 50th match win in the Grand Slams. Talking to the reporters after the match, a jubilant Del Potro said, “I think this was my best match this week. I played really aggressive, trying
to hit the ball really hard, and I took all my break points. That's important to have the control of the match. I think I played a very good match today and I have an opportunity to play the fourth round again.”
Del Potro will take on the challenge of Spain’s seventh seed, David Ferrer, in the fourth round. The Spaniard defeated former world number one, Andy Roddick, in the last match.
On playing the Argentinean, Ferrer said, “It's going to be so difficult. To beat him I will have to play very consistent. I will have to play very, very good.”
Del Potro trails 0-2 against the Spaniard in their head to head record on the ATP World Tour.
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