Del Potro Reaches Semi-Finals Of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
Juan Martin Del Potro reached the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for a second straight year on Thursday when he defeated qualifier Daniel Brands 6-4 6-2.
The pair had met just once before, in Vienna last October when Del Potro fired 30 aces and Brands 32 in a match that Del Potro won at the end of three tiebreak sets. This time the path to victory was much smoother for the number four seed.
The first set went with serve with neither player earning a break point until, with Del Potro leading 5-4, Brands played a miserable game and dropped his serve at love to concede the set.
Brands then made a backhand error on break point to give Del Potro a 2-0 lead in the second set, and he surrendered his serve to love for a second time when down 5-2 to give Del Potro a comfortable 62-minute win.
"Looks easy but wasn’t easy," said Del Potro. "I played really well in the second set, and I take my chance to break his serve in the end of the first set. Today he made a few double faults in the important moments, and I took that to break his serves. I think that was the key."
"Juan Martin Del Potro survived a difficult first round when he faced three match points against Marcos Baghdatis, but he has since shown the form that won him the US Open title in 2009," said tournament director Salah Tahlak. "It will be interesting to see if he can maintain his run and advance to his first final here at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships."
Later on Thursday, third seed Tomas Berdych is playing wild card Dmitry Tursunov, top seed Novak Djokovic faces seventh seeded Andreas Seppi and defending champion and second seed Roger Federer takes on former top three player Nikolay Davydenko.
The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, which continues until 2nd March, is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
For further information visit phone the call centre on +971 4 4172415.
Emirate: Dubai
Date: Feb 28, 2013
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