By Chris Oddo | Tuesday February 19, 2019
Juan Martin del Potro eased past Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets to earn his first victory of 2019.
Photo Source: AP
Juan Martin del Potro played his first match since fracturing his right patella in October at the Shanghai Masters in 2018. And the Tower of Tandil earned an impressive 6-3 7-5 victory over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka at the Delray Beach Open to book his spot in the second round.
The top-seeded World No.4 warned media that he’d need time to shake the rust off and polish up his power game before the tournament, but he performed quite well on Tuesday, all things considered. Del Potro saved three of four break points and never let the speedy Nishioka get a lead in the match.
It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means, and Del Potro appeared to become fatigued as the match wore on, but it was an adequate start for a player who will surely become more dangerous as the season wears on.
“I didn't feel really well on court, but I think that's very normal [given that it’s my first match],” Del Potro said according to ATPWorldTour.com. “I'm looking forward to feeling better in the next round. I need time to get better, to feel confidence with my knee, with my body.”
Del Potro, who finished with 12 aces on the evening, will face hard-serving American Reilly Opelka in the second round.
Opelka knocked off American Tennys Sandgren while last year’s defending champion Frances Tiafoe fell to Dan Evans, 7-5 in the third. Tiafoe served for the match in the second set and also had a 3-0 lead in the decider but could not avoid the loss to the British qualifier. It's been a rough February for Tiafoe, who hasn't won a match since reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January.
In other action, second-seeded John Isner defeated Peter Polansky, while eighth-seeded Adrian Mannarino defeated last week’s New York Open runner-up Brayden Schnur 6-2 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Steve Johnson (d. Jung) and Sixth-seeded Andreas Seppi (d. Tomic) were also winners on Tuesday in Florida.
But make no mistake: Del Potro, the 2011 champion at Delray Beach, was the main attraction.
The 30-year-old wild card broke for 5-3 in the opening set and then dug out of a 15-40 hole in the next game, winning a 25-stroke rally at 30-40 and later converting his second set point with his sixth ace of the set.
Del Potro broke for 3-2 in set two as he rushed the net and saw a passing attempt from Nishioka fly by and miss wide. But the scrappy World No.72 rallied from 30-0 down in the next game and used his fantastic wheels to goad Del Potro into an error for a break to draw level at 3-all.
After four consecutive holds Del Potro broke for 6-5 and served the match out to 15, closing with back-to-back inside-out forehand winners.
Del Potro improves to 13-3 lifetime at Delray Beach. He has been to at least the semis in three of his four performances at the event, but fell last year to Frances Tiafoe in the round of 16.