Juan Martin Del Potro powers down Marinko Matosevic to reach the third round – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Former US Open champion, Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, cleared the second round draw of the BNP Paribas Open after belting down the Australian qualifier, Marinko Matosevic, on Sunday. The world number nine took one hour and 40 minutes of play to overpower the Aussie opponent in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, marching into the third round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, California.
The 23-year-old Argentine displayed his vintage class yet another time to take down Matosevic, who has been performing brilliantly in the qualifiers of the tournament. The 129th ranked Aussie was too weak to contain the fury of the ninth seed belligerent Argentine and had to submit in the second set to end his voyage at the Indian Wells. He posed some resistance in the opening set but was completely outplayed by Del Potro in the second set.
Del Potro slowly built up his pace in the contest, kept winning crucial points to keep the score board ticking. He conceded minimum unforced errors in the match, exhibiting a brilliant display of pin-point hitting from the baseline. Once he got his eye in the game, the Argentine went absolutely berserk in the second set of the match to conclude victory in an assertive fashion.
The Argentine tennis ace reached merely 51 per cent precision in his first serve but clinched 26 out of 33 points on it to take the better of his opponent. He converted three of his eight break opportunities in the match, while successfully defending the lone break point he faced from the Australian. Matosevic was outplayed by his superior-ranked opponent in the every segment of the game. He seemed to have caught under pressure while competing against the fiery Argentine and committed a number of unforced errors to finish on the losing side in the end.
The first set witnessed a conventional game play, with both men holding their serves in the opening 10 games to take the scores to 5-5. Del Potro finally made the move, cracking a vital serve break in the 11th game and then serving out of the set at 7-5. He got his eye in the game and came out firing at his opponent in the following set. The ninth seed broke the Australian’s serve twice to race away to 5-2 and had no difficulty in serving out of the match in style. He will play against the 19th seed Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, in the third round of the tournament.
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