Del Potro overcomes spirited Somdev to reach quarters at Dubai

Somdev Devvarman must have been a warrior in another life. The Assamese might be living a different life now, but the spirit of battle is still intact despite being ravaged by time and injury. The Indian put on game resistance against the world No. 7 but lacked the full range of weapons needed to present a meaningful threat. Juan Martin Del Potro was tested in the early minutes, but settled down quickly to eke out a workmanlike 6-4, 6-4 victory in an hour and 29 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 500 – Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Shoulder injury kept Somdev out of action for the better part of last year, but the Virginia resident has been positive since his return to the tour earlier this year in Chennai, working his way up from 664th to 315th in the rankings during the past two months. Devvarman served a couple of service winners and an ace to hold at love in the first game before swamping his opponent with some energetic hustling in the second game. The Indian had a great chance to go up 2-0, but squandered two chances to do so at 15-40 – Del Potro using the kick serve to save the first and the Indian failed to control his forehand on the next. The Argentine finished the game with two consecutive service winners to keep matters even at 1-1.

Having missed the opportunity, Somdev turned up tentative in the third game. He found the net with his forehand twice in a row before gifting the break with an untimely double fault. His normally reliable forehand was playing tricks on the day and though he earned his third break point of the set in the fourth game with a cleanly hit forehand down the line winner, Somdev faltered off the same flank twice in a row to fall behind 1-3. The Indian put up a spirited display from there by improving his serve and tightening his defence but Del Potro already had a break in the bag. The Argentine kept up the tempo at his end, before sealing the set with an ace in the tenth game.

A vociferous bunch of Indian supporters continued egging their hero and Somdev paid off their tickets with typical resilience in the first game of the second set. It got off to a cracker, with Somdev saving a break point at 30-40 with a searing forehand down the line winner. Eventually though, the spirited Indian succumbed to the persistent barrage from across the net to surrender the break at the end of an 18 point marathon. With an early break in the bag, Del Potro could sit back and ride home the advantage even as Somdev made a vain effort to somehow find a crack on the tower across the net.

But it was the Argentine again who had an opportunity to stamp his authority one more time – however, the gritty Somdev survived four break points in the 16 point seventh game before eventually keeping it together for a laboured hold to remain within touch at 3-4. With the match slipping away, Somdev made a final lunge in the tenth game of the second set. Del Potro was in much better form than he was against Baghdatis in the earlier round and pounced quickly to avert any prolonged battle. At 15-30, the Indian sensed a chance to draw even with the Argentine but a thumping forehand cross court winner brought up match point. Somdev flailed his backhand cross court long on the next point to end the contest.

In the end it was about the quality of arsenal. Somdev had a higher first serve percentage – 70% to just 59% for the Argentine. Unfortunately, it did not mean much considering that the Indian lost as many as 19 points off his first delivery compared to just 5 for his opponent. Del Potro saved all three break points on his serve and even though the battling Indian saved as many as 8 of the 10 break points faced, one break in each set was enough for the Argentine to tide away into the last eight of the tournament.

“I played better than yesterday. I was solid with my serve, and I didn’t make many mistakes with my backhand,” said Del Potro. “When we had rallies on the baseline, I played solid. I didn’t lose my serve during the match. That gives me confidence for my next match tomorrow.”

Del Potro’s next opponent will be the German Daniel Brands who surprised Mikhail Youzhny to clinch a symmetrical 6-4, 6-4 victory in just 65 minutes. It will be the second quarter-finals of the year for the 25 year old qualifier, who had made the semi-finals at Doha in January. The 97th ranked German served 13 aces to just 2 from the Russian in an impressive showing to reach the last eight.