Juan Martin del Potro shook his head after hitting a backhand into the net. He had been down this road a few too many times before in 2017.

The tough draw, the hot opponent, his own sputtering game which he could never kick into high gear: It was all happening to Delpo one more time against Tomas Berdych in Cincinnati. When he lost the first set 6-3, and looked lost at the baseline in the process, Tennis Channel commentators began to wonder about a possible injury. Thinking about his lackluster loss to Denis Shapovalov in Montreal last week, I began to wonder if Del Potro—28 years old, 30th-ranked and the victim of a career’s worth of bad luck—might have reached his peak. Had we seen the best of Delpo?

Last year Del Potro returned with a revamped, albeit makeshift, game and found immediate—and frankly surprising—success with it. A surgically repaired but still-balky left wrist kept him from swinging out on his two-handed backhand, so he did the only thing he could do: He hit more forehands, and he hit as many of them for winners as possible.

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The result was an Olympic silver medal and the first Davis Cup title in Argentina’s history. The problem was, neither of those International Tennis Federation triumphs did anything for his ATP ranking, which remained mired in the 30s, not high enough to get him seeded at most events. That meant Delpo was ripe for bad draws: In four of his first six events of 2017, he lost either to Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer. And that’s how, even in August, he could find himself facing the 10th-seeded Berdych in the first round. When Del Potro blew a 5-2 lead in the second set, it looked like all of those tough draws and early losses had taken their toll on his confidence. His shots, even from the forehand side, didn’t have their old pop.

Sometimes, though, the easiest way to regain your confidence is to have your opponent hand it to you. On Tuesday, Berdych obliged. He started the second-set tiebreaker by missing a forehand wide and double-faulting to go down 0-3. That’s all Delpo needed. He won the next two points with big first serves and bigger forehands, and he closed the breaker with an ace and a fist pump. His pop, and his confidence, were back, and they stayed with him through a bagel third set. The combination that had worked so well for him last year—the slice crosscourt backhand to set up the inside-out forehand—was working again.

“I think my game improved after a big effort in the second set,” Del Potro said after his 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-0 win, which was among the best of his season.

Can it help him turn his year around? I asked the same thing last week in Montreal when Delpo beat John Isner, and then he turned around and lost to Shapovalov. But opportunity certainly knocks in Cincy. Del Potro plays 244th-ranked Mitchell Krueger next, and he’s in the quarter vacated by Federer.

“I think I can play much better,” Del Potro said on Tuesday. “I’ve been having tougher draws in all the tournaments.”

With his win on Tuesday, Delpo gave himself the chance he’s been waiting for.

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With win over Berdych, Del Potro gets chance he's been waiting for

With win over Berdych, Del Potro gets chance he's been waiting for

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