Victorious Del Potro Triumphs In South American Battle

The world no. 6 player and world no. 11 player met in an all-South American semifinal today in Washington D.C. Argentine Juan Martin del Potro had never beaten Chilean Gonzalez and his forehand before this match.

The 20 year old is at a crossroads in his career where he needs to ratchet it up a notch to seriously contend with the top-tier players. Luckily for him, he is the most talented youngster at the moment. Right now, he wins the matches he should win but needs to win the big matches against the top players. He was 2-6 against the top four and 3-6 against the top eleven this year before this match.

In the beginning, the Argentine started to move Gonzalez around court, which was trouble for the Chilean. He was also better at going from defense to offense in points. Del Potro was able to strike first with a break in game five, but Gonzalez returned the favor in eighth game to level the set at 4-4.

Gonzalez and his forehand got hot and began to make crazy shots that left the Argentine flat-footed. Unfortunately for the Chilean, unforced errors crept into his game because of the risk-taking. After fighting off three set points, del Potro was able to hold serve to take the opening set into a tiebreak.

In the tiebreak, Del Potro was aided by unforced errors from Gonzalez. He took the advantage on the fourth point of the tiebreak with a minibreak. The Argentine was just more consistent and cut down on the errors and cruised to take the first set 77 minutes into the match.

In the second set, Gonzalez completely lost steam and del Potro took advantage. He immediately struck first again in the second game and quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Gonzalez took one break back in the sixth game of the set, but it was a little too late to make a charge. The Argentine was able to wrap up the match and end his drought against Gonzalez for the win at 7-6(2) 6-3 after 126 minutes of play.

He is now 1-3 against Gonzalez and 4-6 against the top eleven. The Argentine youngster now awaits the winner of the Roddick-Isner match and books a spot in his second final of the year.

(Image: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)