Del Potro Joins Nadal as ‘Back’ in Madrid; Wed. Preview With Djokovic, Wawrinka-Kyrgios
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Rafael Nadal is back? Well so is Juan Martin del Potro!
ADHEREL
The No. 5-seeded Nadal beat Russian Alex Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to move into the third round in Madrid, but perhaps the bigger story was the unseeded Del Potro, continuing his return from multiple wrist surgeries, beating one of the hottest claycourters of the year.
Del Potro ground down No. 14 seed and somewhat-gassed-from-last-week’s-Munich-run Dominic Thiem 7-6(5), 6-4.
“I have just played my best match since I came back to tennis after my surgeries,” Del Potro said. “I’ve had a great test against a very high-level player.”
The former US Open champ will next meet American Jack Sock, who eked out a win over Frenchman Benoit Paire 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5). Nadal will next face either Sam Querrey or Lucas Pouille.
In other second-round Top 10 action, No. 2 seed Andy Murray was forced to work to beat Czech qualifier Radek “The Worm” Stepanek 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-1, and No. 10 Richard Gasquet put on the hard hat to beat Spanish wildcard Fernando “Hot Sauce” Verdasco 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
“He played very well. It was not easy,” Murray said after fighting off Stepanek’s aggressive attack in the first two sets before the Czech ran out of gas in the third. “Third set I started to play with a little bit more height. I was playing a little bit more spin, which made it harder for him. When I was getting the ball up high he started making a few more mistakes.”
Other seeded winners were No. 11 Milos Raonic over Alex Dolgopolov in three, No. 13 Gael Monfils topping Kevin Anderson, and No. 15 Rob Bautista Agut over Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo.
In notable unseeded matches Borna Coric showed wildcard Nicolas Almagro the door, Pablo Cuevas beat last week’s Munich winner Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Fabio Fognini beat Bernard “The Tank Engine” Tomic 6-2, 6-4, with Tomic attempting to return the last point of the match with his racquet handle.
Matches to look for Wednesday in Madrid are (1) Novak Djokovic vs. Coric, (15) Bautista Agut vs. Feliciano “F-Lo” Lopez in an all-Spanish, (6) Kei Nishikori vs. Fognini, Del Potro vs. Sock, and (4) Stan Wawrinka vs. Nick Kyrgios.
MADRID WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE
MANOLO SANTANA start 12:00 noon
ATP – F. Lopez (ESP) vs [15] R. Bautista Agut (ESP)
Not Before 2:00 pm
WTA – [6] S. Halep (ROU) vs [10] T. Bacsinszky (SUI)
Not Before 4:00 pm
ATP – [1] N. Djokovic (SRB) vs B. Coric (CRO)
Not Before 8:00 pm
WTA – [8] C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) vs S. Stosur (AUS)
Not Before 9:30 pm
ATP – A. Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) vs [7] J. Tsonga (FRA)
ARANTXA SANCHEZ start 12:00 noon
WTA – D. Gavrilova (AUS) vs [5] P. Kvitova (CZE)
Not Before 2:00 pm
ATP – F. Fognini (ITA) vs [6] K. Nishikori (JPN)
ATP – [Q] D. Kudla (USA) vs [9] D. Ferrer (ESP)
ATP – P. Cuevas (URU) vs [13] G. Monfils (FRA)
Not Before 8:00 pm
ATP – [PR] J. del Potro (ARG) vs J. Sock (USA)
Not Before 9:30 pm
WTA – [Q] P. Tig (ROU) vs M. Keys (USA)
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