Juan Martin Del Potro makes short work of Jarkko Nieminen in opening round – Rogers Cup 2011
Argentinean Juan Martin Del Potro made short work of Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen with the score line at 6-4, 6-0 in their opening round match at the Rogers Cup 2011, this Monday. This win marks for Del Potro an upbeat start to his
Montreal campaign; he last played here two years ago and had breezed past top players Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal before succumbing to Andy Murray in a thrilling final. Del Potro had recovered almost instantaneously after this and won the US Open 2009 next
month.
Currently ranked at No. 19, Del Potro had been unable to play at last year’s Rogers Cup and the subsequent US Open due to a wrist injury. This had sent the Argentinean’s rankings tumbling to a lowly 484th, however, Del
Potro bounced back this season and astonishingly managed to scale back into the top 20 in around 6 months. With title wins at Estoril and Delray Beach, he came into the tournament with an impressive 36-10 win loss record.
The 30-year-old Finnish Nieminen came in with a substantial 13-17 win-loss record. But the World No. 50’s inability to reach even a quarter final at an ATP tour event this year marred his performance at Rogers Cup too. Nieminen’s
best presentation at Montreal had been a quarter final back in 2006, however, his performance’s waning trend at the ATP Masters 1000 Canada has continued unabated since.
With this win the two players’ head to head rankings rise to 3-0, convincingly in Del Potro’s favour.
Del Potro set the note for the match by breaking his opponent’s serve in the very first game of the opening set. Serving at a massive 72%, by the match’s standards, Del Potro fired 8 cunningly executed aces and won 16 of the 21
points of his serve. Nieminen struggled with 52% serve percentage, failed to set up even a single breakpoint situation against his opponent and instead gave away two shattering double faults. The Argentinean took away the first set 6-4.
“I think I played much better in the second,” said Del Potro, summing up his performance in the next set. “I [had more] confidence with my forehand and serves. After you win the first set, you feel sometimes you have the control
of the match. It's what I felt today. I was trying to do different things. I played well.” Del Potro served effectively at 60%, while Nieminen barely managed to connect 31% of his first serves. The eventual winner sealed the game at an incredible 6-0 by capitalising
on all three of the serve break scenarios that he afforded.
Del Potro will next duel with World No. 29 Marin Cilic, from Croatia, in their second round encounter at the prestigious Rogers Cup. Cilic had earlier opened his campaign at the tournament by registering a comprehensive 7-5, 6-4
win over Andreas Seppi.
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