Juan Martin DEL POTRO continued his unbeaten streak to 24 matches after defeating Kei NISHIKORI of Japan in the fourth round. In this highly anticipated encounter dubbed as the “Battle of Teen Star” DEL POTRO had no problems in defeating his opponent 6-3, 6-4 & 6-3.
The 6-foot-6 Argentine deployed his towering serve and big windup forehand to push the baby-faced Nishikori around the court and swat winners into the corners. This might be a surprise to many as prior to this game, he wont a five set thriller in the previous round.
“Sometimes you don’t have much left in your legs,” DEL POTRO said after the match. “But thanks to all of you, I’m able to find the energy.”As a result, DEL POTRO will play in his first ever career Grand Slam quarter-finals. This has already been a remarkable journey for the 19 years old as his ranking has vaulted from No.65 to No.17.
Next up in the quarter-final, will be another test of character for the youngster in the form of Andy MURRAY (6th seed) of Great Britain. The Brit had no trouble seeing off 10th seeded Stanislas WAWRINKA of Switzerland 6-1, 6-3 & 6-3.
Best of luck to DEL POTRO on making it into the semis.
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11 comments:
Hey John Juan Martin Del Potro didn't continue his unbeaten streak to 24 against Nishikori but to 23.Hopefully the 24th will be against Andy Murray.
Hi:
I think that Del Potro has some chances against Murray. The british has more experience, but the Argentinian has improved a lot his game this year.
Everybody says that his winning streak has been only against not top 20 players, so that is something this young player will love to show, that he is grown enough.
Thanks Akash for saving the day. And thanks Denis for your comment, cheers!
Something was telling me it should be 23 games and since I was not sure I decided to check on the US Open official website itself. There it was stated as 24 games. Or did they just predicted something?
I've reading the newspaper today and it seems everyone agrees that the DEL POTRO/MURRAY match up is best quarter-final clash. Apparently there is some history between these two that goes back to their junior days. But I will not want to get into that as I plenty of admiration for both players.
I just hope that it is tennis that will take center stage and not anything else. The last thing we need is another Lleyton HEWITT saga.
Hopefully I'll be able to watch the game as the timing might be somewhere during the early morning hours here in Malaysia
John,
There’s no doubt about the hability of little Andy. Actually, Juan Martín del Potro showed himself humble enough when declaring off the court “He has always beaten me, my chances are loiw”. We might think of a strategy, but from what we’ve seen on this interview he has no porblem in saying whatever he thinks regardless the mic.
Obviously, it will be a great match. For sure the best in quarter finals… at least our two countries will be bitting their nails in front of the TV.
This two players does not seem to be the “bad boys” kind. We only expect to have a great match concerning tennis.
Good luck to yours.
http://www.vilasclub.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/02/juan-martin-del-potro-el-chico-del-momento/#comments
Saludos john!! gracias por dejar tu post en mi sitio!!
visiten www.enlatribuna.com.ar
FYI-Del Potro is a big Boca Juniors fan and has said Martin Palermo is his idol. He said he would make a gift of the racquet he has used during his winning streak for Palermo.
Del Potro is a very solid player with a bright future, but Murray is just a better all-around player. Del Potro just hasn't played the same level of competition that Murray has over the last two years. The Scotsman hasn't always looked his best, getting a scare from Jurgen Melzer in the third round. But he survived, and is now battle-tested for his showdown with Del Potro. Murray made Stanislas Wawrinka look much worse than the #10 seed he was. Murray is going to find a way to win this match.
Great match tonight from Murray and Del Potro. Del Potro tightened up and lost the first two sets in tiebreakers, after he probably should have won both. Not hard to understand given his first big match at the US Open. But then, he picked himself up off the floor, won the third set, and had chances in the fourth before he tired. A shame, but he will be back. I guarantee you Murray doesn't want to see him anytime soon.
Johnny, as a matter of fact, I've read somewhere that one of DEL POTRO common ritual before every game was to hear Boca's chant on his MP3. He says that it is something that motivates him to play better.
As expected it was the highly seeded Scotsman that prevail and but what a match from both of them.
DEL POTRO never look like giving up that easily and gave MURRAY a tough fight until the very end. He is still young and has plenty of time to developed his game. What's more important is that we can finally say we have someone who is comfortable playing on hard court (unlike most of the Argentine players, who are well renowned clay court specialist).
Now we will look forward to the Davis Cup semi-final when we take Russia. I'm pretty sure DEL POTRO's name will be included.
Hey John,
Del Potro lost to Andy Murray, but he put up a hell of a fight. Mad every single set hell for Murray. At 19, Del Potro is youngest player to reach the quarterfinals since 2001, and the sky is the limit for him.
Here is the link to the match highlights so that all the Albiceleste fans can watch :
http://cmnetwork.blogspot.com/2008/09/special-us-open-highlights-andy-murray_04.html
I didn't realize until this morning that there was some bad blood between Del Potro and Murray left over from a yelling incident awhile back in Rome. I thought they looked a little testy at times, and Murray certainly engaged in some unnecessary gamesmanship at times. Did he really think that the umpire was going to be able to turn off the scoreboard video ? He's a nice player and his drop shots and general game are a little different than most players. But, maybe a bit of a brat ?
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