Del Potro Finds Himself in Familiar Territory as he Prepares to Face Federer

Juan Martin Del Potro, came from two sets to love down, to beat the Austrian Dominic Thiem. This was his first victory, from a two set to love deficit at a grand slam. The Argentine, riding on the chants of his fans, played some incredible shots, to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Roger Federer. Battling through flu and fever, Del Potro had absolutely no rhythm whatsoever in the first two sets, virtually gifting Theim, breaks of serve.

After a medical time out and gulping down some pills, Del Potro seemed to revive his old faithful forehand, blasting winners past Thiem. He also seemed to be much more at ease with his serve, after the third set. Although the Austrian put up a resilient display of tennis, it was not enough to overcome the giant Argentine. Half of the grandstand, was raided by the loud Argentine supporters, who would not stop chanting “ole ole”, even though their hero was down and out in the first two sets. He returned the favour by displaying one of the best comebacks in the US open history, and thanking the crowd in his post match interview-“I don’t know what can I say after this big battle. I was sick the last two days. I came here trying to play as well as I can. When I saw all of this crowd cheering for me, my illness cleared up. I was trying to feel better every game. I fight like this because of you guys.”

Del Potro a previous winner here in 2009, will meet his 2009 finalist, Roger Federer in the semis tomorrow. Although Federer has looked peachy in his first two rounds, he has been gaining confidence as he has progressed deeper into the tournament, and it promises to be a mouth-watering prospect. Federer leads in their head-to-head, and Del Potro has had a patchy year, while Federer has had a near flawless year, but none of this will matter one bit, as the players start at love all tomorrow. The prospect of a Roger-Rafa semifinal will have to be put on a hold for a couple of days, as we grab the popcorn and soda, for a cracking match up. The key thing to watch out for would be Del Potro’s forehand, because if that starts finding its range, then Roger could be in a heap of trouble. We leave you with both the players’ thoughts on the quaterfinals.