Juan Martin del Potro weathers early Paris storm to beat Nicolas Jarry

A storm looked to be on the horizon at the start of Tuesday’s Roland Garros play. Dark, profuse clouds moved in—droplets of rain soon began firing—but the sun fended off its provoking opponent to reemerge victorious.

Eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro found himself facing his own pounding thunder early before settling in to defeat Nicolas Jarry 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Playing in just his fourth tournament of the season and second on clay, del Potro is defending a semifinal showing in Paris. He's showed signs of recent promise, having held two match points on world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the Rome quarterfinals.

“I wanted to be here because it's a big tournament. I have great memories from the past. And I feel good," said Del Potro.

"I'm playing tournament by tournament, as I said in Madrid. I finished Rome in very good shape after the Djokovic match. I had a week off to train hard, so I feel a little bit better than Madrid. The main goal for me is trying to stay healthy after this tournament so then I can make a smart schedule on different surfaces without thinking about my knee. That would be much better for my future."

Whether or not it was his intent, Del Potro soon accepted he was not the controller of the baseline in his maiden clash with Jarry. For the first 30 minutes, the Chilean was striking with authority, approaching on the right shots and hitting his spots on serve to claim the opening set thanks to 15 winners (5 aces). Del Potro let out a roar of frustration in the second game of set two and much like Serena Williams on Monday, this aligned with a turning point.

Two points later, Jarry double faulted to drop serve—he would do so three times when facing break point in the match—and del Potro profited. The Argentine put more returns in play to pressure Jarry and permitted the 23-year-old to continue taking volatile swings, resulting in a rise of unforced errors. Del Potro protected his serve in the final three sets to complete the victory in two hours and seven minutes.

"He made a lot of winners but also a lot of mistakes. I wasn't being really solid from the baseline so I tried to put the ball in and see what happened with his shots," assessed Del Potro. "In the specific moments of the match, I played aggressive, [especially] in the break points and I broke his serves many times. The matches depend on my game normally but not today. I have many things to improve yet."