By Chris Oddo | Wednesday October 25, 2017
Juan Martin del Potro won for the 17th time in 21 matches on Wednesday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, defeating Portugal’s Joao Sousa, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. The victory adds fuel to the London hopes for Del Potro, who still has a lot of ground to make up if he hopes to make a late push to make the World Tour Finals.
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More important for Del Potro is a second-round clash with Julien Benneteau on Thursday in Basel.
“I need to improve my game a little bit for tomorrow and see if I can keep winning because I'd like to spend more days in Basel,” he said.
Like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was victorious today in Vienna, Del Potro is not ready to believe that he has a good shot to reach London. But if he wins the Basel title and Pablo Carreno Busta falls tomorrow in Vienna, Del Potro would head to the Paris Masters with a lead over the Spaniard.
Del Potro won 40 of 48 first serve points and saved three of four break points on Wednesday, and improved to 2-0 vs. World No.60 Sousa.
In other action at Basel, No.3-seeded David Goffin strengthened his London bid with a 6-4, 6-1 takedown of Hyeon Chung. The Belgian adds another 45 points to his London tally and is starting to look like a lock to make the elite eight.
No.5-seeded Jack Sock (d. Haase), No.6-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut (d. Harrison) and No.7-seeded Adrian Mannarino (d. Bemelmans) were also winners on Wednesday at Basel, as well as Benneteau, Martin Fucsovics and Borna Coric.