Del Potro Into Estoril Final Against Verdasco; Djokovic Gets Walkover in Belgrade

If you are a Juan Martin Del Potro fan like me you have to be impressed with his performance. The Argentine reached the Estoril final today after beating Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 7-6(6). The win follows Delpo’s great victory yesterday over Robin Soderling and he now moves into the final to face Fernando Verdasco.

The struggling Verdasco is having his best week of the year after getting a gift retirement from Milos Raonic. Verdasco, who said he wanted the Canadian on the clay after his loss to the Milos in the San Jose final, got him today but Raonic had to retire with a back injury after losing the first set 6-4.

Del Potro and Verdasco split their two previous meetings but Verdasco beat him in the San Jose semifinals. But Delpo has to be playing much better tennis and I like him tomorrow to get his first clay title in almost three years.

In Belgrade, Janko Tipsarevic was a no go giving his buddy Novak Djokovic a free pass into the finals where he’ll play Feliciano Lopez.

Djokovic said via Facebook, “Bad news. Janko had to pull out from tonight’s semi final match,because of muscle injury. I sincerely hope he will manage to recover for the rest of the clay court season. Final is tomorrow at 16h. I will try to get the tittle back where it belongs,and that is SERBIA ! :-)”

Djokovic has won 28 straight matches, 26-0 this year and he should be able to do what he pleases with Lopez who beat Volandri.

“I think it’s a great match for me to play,” Lopez said. “I’ve already won four matches this week. My confidence is really high at the moment and I feel great to play against Novak tomorrow. I know it’s going to be tough; he’s been the best player this year. It will be a great experience.”

And in Munich, Florian Mayer will clash with the suddenly re-energized Nikolay Davydenko who advanced when Radek Stepanek retired in the second set with a bad back. (Half the semifinals played today were cut short due to injury).

SUNDAY ESTORIL SCHEDULE

CENTRAL start 12:30 pm
[3] E Butorac (USA) / J Rojer (AHO) vs [4] M Lopez (ESP) / D Marrero (ESP)

Not Before 3:00 PM
[8] J Del Potro (ARG) vs [2] F Verdasco (ESP)