DEL POTRO LOSES

Gabriela Sabatini’s countryman, Juan Martin Del Potro, has been defeated by Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in the second round of the ongoing US Open. Hewitt won the match in five sets by 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1.

It was a fine performance by the 32 years Australian veteran. He was close to losing the contest at one stage, but, he didn’t let the panic set in. He battled it out incredibly well and came out victorious at the end.

It was the 5th match between these two players and Hewitt defeated Del Potro for the 3rd time.

In the opening set, Del Potro started brilliantly and broke Hewitt’s serve in the second game to take a lead of 2-0.

In the very next game, Hewitt broke back and then, by holding his serve in the next game, he levelled the proceedings.

In the next couple of games, there were no serve breaks and then, in the 7th game, Hewitt sneaked a breakthrough again to get ahead by 4-3. Thereafter, he just bagged his next two service games and clinched the set.

In the second set, the first 8 games went with the serve and the scores were levelled at 4-4. Hewitt broke Del Potro’s serve in the 9th game to take a lead of 5-4.  It seemed that the Australian player was going to win back-to-back sets. But, Del Potro didn’t let that happen. He won the next 3 games in a row with some fantastic shots and sealed the set by 7-5.

Del Potro continued flourishing in the third set as well and bagged it with ease with a couple of breakthroughs.

Now, the pressure was on Hewitt. He had to win the next set somehow to extend the match. He seemed to be doing that easily when he managed to get up by 5-3 by sneaking a breakthrough in the 8th game. He was serving for the set in the next game, but, he failed to serve it out and his lead got decreased to 5-4.

Both the players held their serve in the next 3 games and the set went into the tie breaker where Hewitt soaked up the pressure remarkably well. He let his opponent win only a couple of points and pulled off the tie breaker to drag the match into the 5th set.

In the decider, there was no stopping Hewitt. He was in his zone. With 3 successive serve breaks, he bagged 6 out of the first 7 games to win the match.