By Alberto Amalfi | Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Juan Martin del Potro defeated Dustin Brown, 7-6 (2), 6-4, to score his first clay win in three years and set up a Munich match vs. Jan-Lennard Struff.
Photo credit: Alexandra Beier/Getty Images for BMW
Dressed for a winter chill, Juan Martin del Potro made a seasonal breakthrough in Munich today.
Del Potro defeated Dustin Brown, 7-6 (2), 6-4, in 82 minutes.
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It was the 27-year-old Argentine's first clay-court victory in nearly three years. Del Potro's last clay-court win came at the 2013 Rome Masters where he defeated Andrey Kuznetsov before bowing to Benoit Paire in the round of 16.
The day after del Potro practiced amid snowfall, he put his surgically-repaired wrist to the test hitting more two-handed topspin backhands than he had in recent matches in Miami and Delray Beach.
“I’m very happy to win my first match in three years on clay,” del Potro told ATPWorldTour.com. “I was quite nervous at the end of the match and didn’t serve as well as I did early in the match. He played better in the end too. But for the conditions, we played a nice match.
“I feel better. I am starting to hit my topspin backhand, which is what I need on this surface. I am looking forward to getting even better and hitting harder on my backhand.”
The wild card converted three of his nine break points. Del Potro will face another German, Jan-Lennard Struff, in the second round. Struff surprised seventh-seeded Vasek Pospisil, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2. Should del Potro prevail, it would be his first back-to-back clay-court wins since the 2012 Roland Garros.
Ivan Dodig hit some timely backhand drives toppling sixth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Dodig will face third-seeded Dominic Thiem next.
The 22-year-old Austrian dispatched Santiago Giraldo, 7-5, 6-4. Thiem saved three of four break points in a 93-minute win.
Fifth-seeded Fabio Fognini, who fell to eventual-champion Rafael Nadal in Barcelona last week, swept 20-year-old wild card Maximilian Marterer, 6-3, 6-1. Fognini will face Mikhail Kukushkin for a quarterfinal spot.
No. 8-seeded Alexander Zverev denied 11 of 12 break points outdueling Malek Jaziri, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, in two hours, 10 minutes. Zverev will play Lukas Rosol next.