Juan Martin Del Potro trounces Radek Stepanek in the opening rubber – Davis Cup WG 2012
World number eight, Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, defeated Czech Republic’s second best player, Radek Stepanek, in straights sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in the first rubber to give his country a 1-0 lead in the Davis Cup semi-finals
on Friday.
Del Potro needed two hours and 41 minutes to beat his opponent in a match which looked one sided from the score but saw a close fight between both players.
Standing at sixth position in the race to the season ending championships, Del Potro showed huge courage to feature in this tie. The Argentinean was advised by the doctor to stay away from and take a break but he decided to play
for his country, as former world number three from Argentina, David Nalbandian, was also unfit to play.
Taking about the latest match, Del Potro and Stepanek went neck to neck in the first eight games, levelling the proceedings at 4-4. The Argentinean struck at that moment and closed the opener 6-4.
Both players held their serve in the first half of the second set, taking the score to 3-3. Del Potro grabbed a breakthrough in the seventh and made the most of it to triumph 6-4.
Third set was a pretty one sided affair, as Del Potro hit blows to Stepanek in the third and fifth game, holding his in between serves to race to a 5-1 lead. The Argentinean star did not allow the former top 10 player, Stepanek,
to bounce back and grabbed it 6-2.
Del Potro acknowledged after finishing the match that it was difficult for him to play this tie. He said, “In truth, it wasn’t easy to play. You can see how I suffered playing. I did it for all of you. Playing here means so much
for you, for the country, for Argentine tennis — for everyone and me too. I want to thank you for the love and support you have always shown me.”
The Argentinean added, “I think everyone saw how I played. It was very difficult playing like this. My serve helped, the forehand helped, but when you can’t do damage with every shot, it’s difficult. .... And the effort I put out
is much greater than usual.”
Later in the day, number one Czech player, Tomas Berdych, defeated Argentina’s Juan Monaco in the second rubber to level the score at 1-1. The world number six downed Monaco in five sets 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a marathon encounter.
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