Juan Martin Del Potro cleared his third round match at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open
Swede, Robin Soderling left his fans shocked when he got ousted by his lower ranked opponent, Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina.
The 22-year-old Argentine is in his best form for the season so far. Despite his early departure from the Australian Open, he reached the finals at 2011 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships where he knocked out Janko
Tipsarevic of Serbia to hold his 8th career title.
Playing each other for the fifth time on tour, Potro rose to the occasion extremely well with a 6-3, 6-2 set score and extended his year-to-date win loss mark to 18-5. Potro defeated world number four Robin Soderling in two effortless
sets. Potro’s success banked more on his mind strength and game strategy as opposed to the expected outcome based on rankings.
Potro had a better winning percentage right from the first set as opposed to his opponent’s. He delivered 6 aces and 54 per cent of first serves, whereas Soderling struck 2 aces and landed only 67 per cent of his first serves.
Looking into their first serve winning percentage, it held that Potro achieved unexpectedly good results in comparison to his opponent. He won 85 per cent win on his first serves, as opposed to Soderling’s meager 65 percent.
Although Soderling did save 80 per cent of his break point opportunities it was still insufficient for the world number five to bounce back. Being totally crushed by the opponent in the 9th game, Soderling had no viable alternative
but surrendering. Potro clinched the first set 6-3.
As the first set had already slipped through Soderling’s fingers, it was too difficult for the world number five to overcome his lower ranked contestant. Making headways in search for a win in the deciding set, Potro struck 6 aces
and 57 per cent of first serves. He won an outstanding winning percentage of 92 per cent on his first serves. Soderling, on the other hand, who was already fighting a losing battle, could only register a meager 44 per cent win on his first serves. He pulled
in 3 aces and 72 per cent of first serves.
Potro clinched a 6-2 win for himself in the second set. The Argentine sails into the next round without any difficulty. He will next face local Mardy Fish in the fourth round of 2011 Sony Ericsson Open. The pair stands at a level
2-2 head-to-head record.