Juan Martin Del Potro sails past Philipp Petzschner into final eight – Erste Bank Open 2011
Second seeded Argentinean Juan Martin del Potro fished out easy points to dump the unseeded German, Philipp Petzschner in straight sets at the Erste Bank Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event taking place on the indoor hard courts in Vienna, Austria. He registered a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Bayreuth native Petzschner to secure a last eight spot on Wednesday.
Argentinean number one del Potro put up a solid display of tennis to ease past the 2008 titlist, ranked 63rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, on their first meeting. After this one hour and twenty-seven minutes long marathon, the Argentinean not only secured a final eight spot at Weiner Stadthalle but also took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against Petzschner.
World number fifteen, del Potro cruised into the Austrian hard courts and went on a three games tear to have an initial lead. Later, he plucked remaining serves to clinch the opener with a 6-3 victory. The Argentinean brushed off all four breakpoints came across and capitalised on one out of three breakpoint opportunities to his advantage. Furthermore, del Potro formulated a slightly higher first serve share of 55 percent as compared to the German’s 52 percent and registered a magnificent 71 percent win on it.
23-year-old carried his momentum from the first set into the final set as he breezed his way to secure a win. He quickly bagged in entire serves without facing any breakpoint. Further spicing the set, he duly converted the only breakpoint opportunity to his advantage in the ninth game to pocket the set by winning six games to four. The Argentinean also produced a higher first serve share of 69 percent as opposed to Petzschner’s 61 percent and earned a plausible 78 percent win on it.
"I think I played much better in this match than last week," admitted del Potro. "I need to play better to win more matches. He was a tough opponent in the first round. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the last point - probably the best of the match - was a good way to win."
Next up for the Argentinean is the winner of the match between two qualifiers, German Tommy Haas and Slovenian Aljaz Bedene.
Sixth seeded South African Kevin Anderson will be joining del Potro in the quarter-finals. He fended off late resistance to register a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory over the Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in almost one and half hour.
Tags: