Juan Martin del Potro in breathtaking comeback to beat Dominic Thiem and set-up Roger Federer re-run at US Open
The 2009 US Open champion and crowd favourite fights back from two sets down to defeat Thiem despite struggling with flu
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Your support makes all the difference.As the crowd in the Grandstand stadium roared their approval, Juan Martin del Potro stood with his arms outstretched and looked up into the sky. The 28-year-old Argentinian has experienced many memorable moments in his career, but few have matched his extraordinary victory here on Monday night in the fourth round of the US Open.
Del Potro, struggling to breath as he fought the effects of flu, had appeared to be on the way out of the tournament when he lost the first two sets, winning only three games in the process, but dug deep to record perhaps the greatest comeback victory of his career. He beat Austria’s Dominic Thiem 1-6, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 after three hours and 35 minutes to earn a quarter-final meeting with Roger Federer, who crushed Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.
“I played one of the epic matches of my career here at the US Open, which is my favourite tournament, in front of a great crowd,” Del Potro said afterwards. “I played a fantastic battle against one of the best players of the tour.”
Ever since Del Potro won the only Grand Slam title of his career here in 2009, when he beat Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and Federer in the final, the Argentinian has been a huge favourite with the New York public. There were plenty of fans in the stadium wearing Argentina football shirts and waving national flags, but the support for Del Potro crosses national boundaries.
The public admire the way that he has kept making comebacks despite recurring wrist problems which have forced him to take lengthy breaks from the game. Having had one operation on his right wrist and three on his left, he is still unable to hit his backhands as powerfully as he used to, though his forehand and serve are as strong as ever.
On this occasion, however, Del Potro’s greatest problem was the flu virus which had been troubling him for the last two days. He lost the first five games of the match, at which point he took some medication, and after little more than an hour was two sets down. When he was trailing 4-0 in the second set he thought of retiring because of his breathing difficulties and his problems moving.
The only previous occasion when he had won a match from two sets down was against Marin Cilic in last year’s Davis Cup final, but the inspiration to launch this comeback came from the crowd.
“I saw the crowd waiting for more tennis, waiting for my good forehands, good serves,” he said. “I took all that energy to change in a good way and think about fighting and not retiring.”
Thiem, the world No 8, had been utterly dominant in the first two sets, but in the third Del Potro came roaring back. In the fourth, nevertheless, he was two points from defeat when Thiem served at 5-3 and 30-0. Three games later the Argentinian went two match points down but saved them with successive aces.
Del Potro took the tie-break 7-1, but the fifth set was tight throughout. Thiem saved one match point when he served at 4-5 but double-faulted on the second. There was no “out” call on the Austrian’s second serve, but Del Potro used his last challenge to secure a memorable victory.
The Argentinian said afterwards that the “unbelievable atmosphere” generated by the crowd had helped him through. Asked why he thought he was such a favourite with the fans, Del Potro said: “I think the people love my effort to come back and play tennis. They know what I have been through with all my wrist problems. They like a guy who never gives up, who is trying to play tennis.”
Federer has won 16 of his 21 meetings with Del Potro, but the Argentinian has come out on top in some of their biggest encounters, including the 2009 final here, two matches in London at the year-ending World Tour Finals and one in the world No 3’s home tournament in Basle.
Del Potro said it was “always a pleasure to play the greatest guy in history” and added: “I know how to play if I want to win, but I will see how I feel physically after this battle.
“I feel tired, but we cannot do magic – just massage and some physical movement with the trainer. Hopefully I can recover a little bit more on my day off tomorrow. Then I will see if I’m in a good condition to play against Roger.”
The only time when he was really better, in my opinion, was the fifth set
Del Potro won their 2009 final here 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. “It probably feels like one of those matches I would like to play over again,” Federer said. “I feel like I would probably win it somehow because I should have been up maybe two sets to love.
“I just had all these chances in multiple moments. The only time when he was really better, in my opinion, was the fifth set. Obviously that was good enough to beat me that day. It was a good match. There was a lot of back and forth. The crowd was really into it. We started in the day and finished in the night.
“I was not too disappointed, I don’t think, because I had had a great run. I had won the French and Wimbledon and there had been the birth of my girls. Making the finals here was actually a good run, though it ended my five-year reign here in New York.”
Federer’s only moment of concern in his victory over Kohlschreiber came when he left the court after the second set to have treatment on a tight quad muscle. “It was more precaution,” he said afterwards. “It’s all good. No problems there.”
A semi-final showdown between Federer and Nadal is still on the cards after the Spaniard beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. He now faces the 19-year-old Russian, Andrey Rublev, who in beating David Goffin 7-5, 7-6, 6-3 became the youngest man to reach the quarter-finals here for 16 years.
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