Juan Martin Del Potro labours past Denis Istomin into the quarter-finals – BNP Paribas Open 2012
In a gruelling fourth round battle of the BNP Paribas Open, the world number nine, Juan Martin Del Potro overcame the 51st ranked Uzbek competitor, Denis Istomin, on Wednesday. The Argentine tennis ace strained for two hours and 45 minutes before settling the final scores at 7-6(2), 6-7(6), 6-2, in his favour.
The ninth seed Del Potro had to go through some real tough channels in the early parts of the contest but it was his sheer brilliance and magnificent game play which took him through to victory. It was the second time that Istomin has suffered a defeat at the hands of the Argentine. They played against each other last year at the Queen’s Club, London and Del Potro disposed him of in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. His Wednesday’s victory not only improved his head-to-head lead over Istomin by 2-0 but also awarded him a place in the quarter-final rounds of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series-level event in Indian Wells, USA.
23-year-old Del Potro had a below par serve precision of just 54 per cent in the match but he clinched 44 out of 54 points on it, including 10 cracking aces, en route to victory. The ninth seed converted four out of 10 break points in the contest, whilst the Uzbek could register just two out of seven serve breaks to finish on the losing side in the end.
Del Potro drew first blood in the fifth game of the match to lead 3-2 but Istomin retaliated in the 10th game to level the scores at 5-5. A tie-breaker round came into play and the Argentine prevailed in the decider to get one up. A similar sort of play was witnessed in the following set but this time it was Istomin who took the decider to level the set-score to 1-1.
Del Potro came out firing in the decisive set and nailed two serve breaks to rocket away to victory at 6-2. He will play against the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer, in the quarter-final round of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. Federer was successful against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in the fourth round.
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