Juan Martin del Potro slays Rui Machado in the second round – Estoril Open 2012
Argentine top seed, Juan Martin del Potro, commenced her title defence in an emphatic fashion; dropping just one game to register a crushing straight sets 6-1, 6-0 victory over the 90th ranked Portuguese, Rui Machado.
The opening set witnessed breakthrough in the second game for the top seed. Potro didn’t ease pressure on his opponent and powered him down to a trail of 1-5. With no problem at all, the Argentine bagged the opening set.
The crowd was extremely dejected to see a terrible show from their local hero. They turned up to witness a fighting performance from Machado but he failed to entertain the locals and embarrassed himself.
Major problem with the Portuguese player was his inability to convert the breakpoints. The Argentine pocketed both the opportunities allotted to him but the Portugese failed to transform any of his two. 44 points were played in
the set and Potro led the show with 29 points and stamped his authority.
The second set was even worse for the local representative. He failed to win a single game and faced an embarrassing bagel. Potro came out with an all-round onslaught and thumped Machado on his serves. He won three breakpoints
on the trot and never faced difficult during the serve games. A stunning show from the Argentine cleared his first draw of the tournament.
Potro smashed two aces and combined it with awe-inspiring winners down the line. He bagged three of the allotted four breakpoints and just spared nine points for his opponent before bagging 26 on the other side of the court.
It was a resounding triumph for the Argentine who has been a bit unlucky in the recent past; having being denied of titles by the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer. This performance would have definitely boosted his morale and more
importantly sent a strong message to his potential competitors.
In a post-match interview, the Argentine said, “I like to play on clay, I prefer hard courts obviously, but I have been working hard at home, before I came here. This tournament is very important to my clay-court season and for
my confidence ahead of [ATP World Tour] Masters 1000 tournaments and Roland Garros."
“Albert is a two-time former champion here and a very good clay-courter so it will be a tough match. I am looking forward to it." He stated while talking about his next competitor, Albert Montanes, in the quarter-final.
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