An ear-splitting rumble of thunder announced the players taking the court, but the roof stayed open and Stadium 2—a.k.a. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario—remained largely flooded with sunshine as Juan Martin del Potro defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to move on to the second round of the Madrid Masters.
Like any large object, del Potro is difficult to stop once he has built up sufficient momentum. Having reached at least the semifinals in five out of his last six tournaments—including a title in Estoril on Sunday—del Potro looked to have barely skipped a beat as he fired four aces and 13 winners in taking the first set from the No. 13 seed. Breaking Youzhny in the second game of the match off consecutive blistering forehand winners, the Argentine saved two break points on his serve before breaking Youzhny again for a comprehensive first-set rout. Del Potro’s relentless accuracy and smooth movement looked as good as it has since his Grand Slam-winning year of 2009, and he seemed set to move on towards a potential third-round clash with Rafael Nadal.
An unexpected twist in the tale occurred at the beginning of the second set, however. Youzhny, smarting from a second-round defeat as the defending champion in Munich last week, dug in his heels and after saving a break point, began to move del Potro up the court. The craftier play of the Russian yielded an unexpected dividend when del Potro pulled up sharply after a punishing rally. Down 15-40, the Argentine immediately called for the trainer, hiding his face in a towel. Almost a year to the day since he had surgery on his right wrist, del Potro received treatment for an injury to his left hip; the trainer was heard to advise him to retire from the match if he continued to feel pain.
Stubbornly, del Potro took the court again, and although Youzhny immediately broke serve and held on for the set, del Potro worked through the pain to regain some freedom of movement. A succession of attacking returns got him three break points in the fourth game of the third set, and a huge forehand down the line that Youzhny could only return into the net gave him the crucial break. Punctuating aces and winners with meaty grunts, del Potro smothered Youzhny’s superior movement and sealed the match with an ace.
Del Potro is rapidly becoming an expert at dealing with adversity, and although the left hip strain must cause some concern, not least for the Argentine himself who desperately does not want to miss another Grand Slam with injury, his form right now promises an exciting match against Nadal—if it happens. Nobody will be praying harder than del Potro that his hip recovers in time for his next meeting, with contemporary and fellow big hitter Marin Cilic.
—Hannah Wilks